SRINAGAR – Indian Army is stunned with the revelation that 2 Kashmirifighters fought the troops for 30 hours without any food or medicine. Inwhat security officers find odd in a militant attack launched againstsecurity forces have not recovered any food item or medicines from thebodies of the two militants who were killed in Srinagar on Tuesday after a30-hour gunbattle with security forces.

“We have recovered two AK-47 rifles and eight magazines. As per initialinformation, no food item or medicines have been recovered,” CRPF I-G(Srinagar) Ravideep Sahi said. Occupied Jammu and Kashmir Police has saidthat both are Lashkar operatives.

The encounter had begun early Monday morning after the two made a failedattempt to attack a CRPF camp. “Food and medicines not being found on themis odd as militants generally carry them for long-haul fighting where theyare looking to take hostages, or get holed up.

However, this is not the first case in which a militant has not been foundwith food and medicines,” a security establishment officer said.

CRPF sources said it took a long time to kill the militants, even thoughthey were holed up in an under-construction building. “We were not in aposition to fire very large-area weapons to bring down the building, as wewould have jeopardised other buildings in the area,” a senior CRPF officersaid.

“Besides, to engage them one had to come out within a 30-metre distancewithout any cover. This delayed the operations,” the officer added. Theofficer said that enough grenades and shoulder-fired rockets were used “tosmoke them out”.

CRPF Director General R R Bhatnagar said, “Most importantly, we prevented amuch bigger incident by preventing them from entering our camp and limitingtheir movement in a building.” After that, he said, it was only a “matterof time” before they were killed.