Sovereignty Under Siege continues

Curiously, until then, no one had really noticed anything odd about them or their rash driving within the parliament estate precincts. As the terrorists emerged from the car, brandishing their weapons and firing indiscriminately, it dawned on the security men that a terror attack was under way. The first thing that the Watch and Ward staff did was to shut all entrances into the building. Quickly, personnel from the Delhi Police and CRPF took positions at vantage points for armed retaliation. A fierce shoot-out ensued.

One terrorist, later identified as Mohammad, ran towards gate one, firing his AK-56 rifle indiscriminately at the security personnel. As he neared the gate, a bullet, fired by a CRPF jawan on duty, hit him. At the same time, a hand grenade he was carrying exploded, possibly hit by another bullet, and the terrorist collapsed near gate one—the gate used by all MPs except the prime minister, the Speaker of the Lok Sabha and the vice president, who have other designated gates of entry. When the remaining four terrorists at gate eleven realized that the security forces on their side of the wall had ample firepower, they decided to jump over it and run along the central edifice, a direction that was opposite to that taken by Mohammad. What they didn’t anticipate was that there was adequate security there as well, which had by then taken strategic positions.

 The CRPF fired at the running terrorists, and three of them, later identified as Rana, Raja and Hamza, fell in a heap on the porch of gate nine. The last one, identified as Haider, kept running until he too was shot dead and fell on the porch of gate five—the gate used by the prime minister of India. Later, an AK-47 rifle with a grenade launcher was found next to his body.

To be continued……….