NEW DELHI, July 5 (Xinhuanet) --Five militants were killed in an encounter with the security forces at the Babri-Masjid-Ram Janambhumi complex in Ayodhya town in India, after they stormed the premises Tuesday morning.

   

In this 1992 file picture, Hindu youths wave flags atop the 16th century Babri Mosque in Ayodhya, which was later demolished by Hindu zealots, sparking nationwide riots. In the latest incident, five gunmen clashed with police inside the controversial mosque complex in northern India. (Photo: Xinhua/AFP)

 Two security forces personnel were also injured in the operation, which, UP Government officials said, was over now. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is holding a cabinet meeting in New Delhi to take stock of the situation arising out of terrorist attack on the disputed site in Ayodhya.

    Taking cognizance of today's incident, all state capital has been put on high alert and security in and around the disputed site has been beefed up further.

    Earlier, breaking the security cordon, some unidentified persons, suspected to be militants, gained entry into the disputed Ram Janambhoomi campus in the holy city of Ayodhya in Uttar Pradesh Tuesday morning and opened fire on police.

    The militants fired indiscriminately, leading to heavy exchange of fire with security forces, in which one of the attackers was killed and another captured, the Press Trust of India quoted local police sources as saying.

    Sources said the militants were in a jeep and entered the campus around 9 am. The attackers were immediately challenged by security forces leading to the exchange of fire and it was still on.

    Tuesday's attack on Babri-Masjid-Ramjanam Bhumi complex is thefirst attack by militants ever since Hindu militants razed the 16th century Babri Masjid to ground on December 6, 1992

    Ayodhya is a center of pilgrimage and is one of the seven sitessacred to Hindus. In the late 1980s it became the center of Muslim-Hindu tensions, and in 1992 fundamentalist Hindus pulled down the 16th-century Babri mosque that they alleged stood on the site of Rama's birthplace. The site of the razed mosque remains a source of contention. Enditem