The Hindu : Militants take nine persons hostage

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Oct 21, 2003

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Militants take nine persons hostage

By Our Staff Reporter

A child injured in a grenade explosion at a bus stand in Srinagar on Monday. — Photo Nissar Ahmad

Srinagar Oct. 20. Militants today took nine persons, including women and children, hostage in a house in the Shopian area of Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district while one civilian was killed and 45 were injured in two separate grenade blasts in the Kashmir Valley.

Around 6.30 a.m., the Special Operations Group of the State Police surrounded a house in Tharian Imam Sahib village of Shopian where four militants were hiding.

The house was cordoned off and, using the local mosque's public address system police appealed to the militants to surrender. The militants refused. Four persons, including an Imam, were then asked to go inside the house and convince the militants to surrender. Once inside, the four were taken hostage, along with five others living in the house.

According to a PTI report, the militants reportedly demanded that the village numberdar be sent into the house for negotiations. The security forces are said to have rejected the demand.

Talking to The Hindu, the DIG, Anantnag-Pulwama, Ravindra Kotwal, said that they were worried about the safety of the civilians inside and that was why the operation was being held up. The utmost care was being taken to save the lives of the civilians. Reinforcements of Army and police had reached the area and the security ring around the house had been strengthened.

In another incident, militants lobbed a grenade at a Border Security Force bunker in the crowded Batmaloo bus stand in Srinagar around 3.30 p.m. The grenade missed the target and fell in a civilian area injuring 40 persons, including women and children. Eyewitnesses said that for 10 minutes there was absolute panic in the area. The injured were admitted to the SMHS, Barzalla and SKIMS hospitals.

Two hours later, in Anantnag, a grenade was hurled at a shop where security personnel were making purchases but it fell among civilians. A person identified as Mohammad Yosuf was killed and five persons were injured.

The area was cordoned off and a search operation launched.

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