Captain, 4 others killed in encounter

Meanwhile, troops stormed into Entrepreneurship Development Institute (EDI) building at Sempora Pampore where the militants are holed up though their number was not clear as some say three while others put the number as five.  

Official sources said troops have entered the building despite heavy firing and hurling of grenades by militants. Since it is a very big and concrete building, it will take time to reach to militants holed up there. A Defence Ministry spokesman Colonel N N Joshi told UNI that with the first light Sunday morning security forces launched a major offensive against the holed up militants.   

However, when the security forces were trying to storm the building, militants resorted to indiscriminate firing in which a captain was injured critically. The officer died before he could be shifted to hospital, he said adding LN Om Prakash was critically wounded. 

However, he died in the hospital, Col Joshi said, adding the operation was going on against the militants when the reports last came in. Himachal Pradesh Governor Acharya Devvrat and Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh have expressed grief over the death of soldier Raj Kumar Rana, who attained martyrdom in a terror attack in Srinagar,  UNI reports from Shimla.