Charar-e-Sharif

Charar-e-Sharief, about 30km southwest of the capital Srinagar. In the army operations to flush out Kashmiri militants holed up since mid-January in the town of Charar-e-Sharief, at least 2000 residential houses and 200 shops were razed to the ground.Charar-e-Sharief, housing one of the most important Muslim shrines in the valley. Security forces said they had sealed all exits from the heavily wooded area of Charar-e-Sharief and neighbouring villages. Intelligence officials said the militants were guarding the main entrance to the shrine and frisking visitors, but added that they had not occupied the tomb.