The siege in Srinagar's Ahmadnagar area ended on Thursday morning after the militant, who was trapped inside a house, reportedly managed to the escape under the cover of darkness.
On Wednesday, a raid was launched based on specific intelligence inputs about the presence of a top Lashkar-e-Taiba commander, Abu Huraira, in the area.
While the police officially confirmed the presence of only one militant, sources said there were more holed up inside the house.
According to police sources, the militant started a counter attack on security forces and opened heavy gunfire and hurled grenades around 2am and managed to give cops the slip taking advantage of the dense tree cover behind the cordoned house.
The police, however, are tightlipped about the outcome of the encounter so far.
According to local residents, the police and CRPF cordoned off the area around 6pm on Wednesday and started house-to-house searches. They zeroed in on a two-storey house in old Ahmednagar on the city outskirts, where militants were hiding in a room on the first floor.
But even before the security forces could act, militants lobbed grenades and fired upon the raiding party resulting in injuries to eight personnel, including two officers.
The injured policemen were shifted to the SKIMS hospital, where the condition of one constable was stated to be critical.
According to sources, Abu Hurara is the operations chief of LeT in Srinagar and had moved recently into an adjacent area with his group after being injured in a firefight with security forces. The police have been keeping a track of his activities and Wednesday's operation was based on days of surveillance and human intelligence.
