2016 Pampore stand-off

2016 Pampore standoff
Part of the Insurgency in Jammu and Kashmir
Date February 20 – 22, 2016 Location Pampore, Kashmir, India Result Standoff ends, militants killed
Belligerents
India Indian Army	Lashkar-e-Taiba
Units involved
Indian Army Para (Special Forces) Central Reserve Police Force
Strength
	4
Casualties and losses
3 Para SF operatives 2 CRPF personals killed 4 CRPF wounded.[1]	4 killed
1 civilian killed

On 20 February 2016, 4 Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorists armed with AK-47 Assault rifles, UBGL, hand grenades and explosives attacked a CRPF convoy on the main road linking Srinagar to Jammu, killing two police men and a civilian. The militants then took refuge in the government-run multi-storey "Entrepreneurship Development Institute" in Pampore.^{[2] [3]} Units of the Indian Army and Central Reserve Police Force cordoned off the building and launched a joint operation to evacuate civilians from the building. For Security forces their main focus was to evacuate civilians to safety. Army and CRPF launched a joint operation with armored vehicles to evacuate 120 civilians from the building.^[4] The militants responded with automatic gunfire and hand grenades. During the ensuing battle, one soldiers (Capt. Pawan Kumar) from Army 10 para Special Forces unit lost his life. A militant was also killed.^[5] Part of the EDI building caught on fire.^[6]

The next day, Special Forces operatives launched a final assault against the militants held up in the EDI building. Reconnaissance drones were used in preparation for the assault.^[7] The 48 hour stand-off ended with the deaths of all three of the remaining militants. Two soldiers (Capt. Tushar Mahajan and Lance Naik Om Prakash) from 9 PARA lost their life on the same day.^[8]

• List of terrorist incidents, January–June 2016

References