On a day when Chief Minister Omar Abdullah announced that talks with the Centre would be held again on selective revocation of Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) after completion of first half of crucial 2014, security forces shot dead seven militants, all foreigners, in an encounter in Dardpora forests of north Kashmir’s frontier Kupwara district.
It was unclear whether the slain militants had freshly sneaked into Kashmir. Generally, the infiltration in February-end is very difficult due to heavy accumulation of snow in the mountain passes. The passes begin to open up in May.
The encounter with militants triggered off on Monday morning. Incidentally, Chief Minister was addressing a police passing out parade ceremony in neighbouring Baramulla district where he discussed the challenges for the security forces in year 2014.
Deputy Inspector General of Police (north Kashmir) JP Singh said that the encounter in Dardpora village of north Kashmir culminated into death of seven militants. “All the militants killed in the encounter were foreigners,” he said.
Police said that the security forces had a tip-off about presence of a group of militants in dense forests of Dadrpora. The troops of Rashtriya Rifles and personnel of anti-insurgency wing of police launched a combing operation in the area that triggered an encounter.
Defence spokesperson in Srinagar said that Army’s patrol was fired upon in the forest area and in the retaliatory action, seven unidentified militants were killed. “A huge cache of arms and other war like stores have been recovered from the site. Three more militants are still trapped”, he said.
He said the encounter has been called off for the night and will resume on Tuesday morning. Abdullah said that talks on selective revocation of AFSPA would resume with the Centre in coming months.