An exchange of firing at dawn Thursday broke the brief lull in Lal Chowk as security forces prepared to launch an assault on the hotel building in Jammu and Kashmir's summer capital Srinagar where two terrorists are holed up.

Firing intensified at the break of dawn as police and CRPF troopers were preparing to launch an assault on the hotel building to neutralize the two holed up militants of the Jamiat-ul-Mujaheedin outfit which claimed responsibility for the attack.