1st LD Writethru: 3 militants killed as Indian troops end 48-hour gunfight in Indian-controlled Kashmir

Indian troops killed two militants on Monday to end a 48-hour stand-off at a government building in restive Indian-controlled Kashmir, officials said.

The fierce gunfight ended with the killing of two militants, who engaged troops throughout the day.

"The remaining two militants at government building have been killed today and thereby gunfight has ended," India's paramilitary Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) spokesman Bhavesh Chaudhury told Xinhua.

On Sunday, three Indian army troopers including two officers and a militant were killed.

Nine people, including three militants and three Indian army troopers, were killed in the gunfight that began late Saturday afternoon.

Indian military spokesman Col N N Joshi said the sanitization of the building is going on.

"We have recovered three assault rifles but sanitization of the rooms in the building will take time," Joshi said.

The building has suffered massive damage because of the heavy exchange of gunfire and mortar shells. The roof top of the building also gutted in the fire that broke out due to mortar shelling.

"The process of identification of militants have been taken up by police," Chaudhury said. "Once the identification is completed details will be shared."

On Saturday, two CRPF men were killed and 13 personnel wounded in the initial attack.

Following the attack militants entered a multi-storey government building of the Entrepreneurship Development Institute (EDI) at Pampore town of Pulwama district, about 24 km south of Srinagar city, the summer capital of Indian-controlled Kashmir.

Authorities had to evacuate more than 100 people, including trainees and employees of the EDI when militants made their entry inside it.

A civilian working at EDI was also killed after being hit by a stray bullet during crossfire between militants and CRPF.

Adjacent to the EDI building is a CRPF camp.

So far no militant outfit has taken responsibility of this attack.

Reports said authorities used Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) fitted with cameras during the gunfight to locate militant positions.

A guerrilla war is going on between militants and Indian troops stationed in Indian-controlled Kashmir since 1989. Gunfights between the two sides take place intermittently across the region.

Kashmir, the Himalayan region divided between India and Pakistan, is claimed by both in full. Since their independence from Britain, the two countries have fought three wars, two exclusively over Kashmir. Endit