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Heavily armed militants stormed the historic Raghunath temple in Jammu Sunday night when it was teeming with devotees, killing 11 persons, including two security men, and injuring 50 others.
Immediately after the strike, security forces cordoned off the temple. And after nearly three hours of fierce gun battle one militant holed up inside was shot dead, but till late in the night heavy exchange of fire was on with one or two terrorists entrenched in Shiv temple, about 400 meters away from the main shrine.
There was some confusion whether the terrorists were firing from the Shiv temple or an adjacent three-storeyed building.
Militants lobbing grenades and firing indiscriminately struck at the 150-year old Raghunath temple at around 7.00 p.m. when it was packed with devotees, leaving a bloody trail.
The elite commandos of the National Security Guards (NSG) were rushed from their camp at Manesar in Haryana to the Delhi airport to be airlifted to Jammu, but after the encounter at the Raghunath temple was over the government decided against their departure.
The Raghunath temple was the target of terrorists on March 31 in which eight persons were killed.
(Xinhua News Agency November 25, 2002)
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