SRINAGAR, Nov 20: Indian troops ended one of the longest sieges in Kashmir’s main city by blowing up a building on Thursday where gunmen had been holed up.

At least four people were killed in the three-day siege in Srinagar, including an army major and a suspected rebel.

A defence spokesman said troops pounded the building, near an army headquarters, with mortars and set off bombs to flatten it. He said soldiers would search the debris on Friday for bodies of the gunmen.

Thursday’s bombing was the second by the army in the crowded residential area since the standoff began on Tuesday.

Troops had blown up an adjacent building, which housed a telephone exchange, on Wednesday in a bid to flush out the suspected militants. But the gunmen had moved to a building next door, he said.—Reuters