Two soldiers and an equal number of militants died in a fierce encounter in Rajwar forests of north Kashmir’s Kupwara district. This is the fourth encounter in the north Kashmir in past three weeks, which resulted in killing of 11 militants and four soldiers.
A Defence spokesman said that the Army was searching and sanitising the area till last reports came in late on Friday evening. A large catche of arms and ammunition was recovered from the possession of slain militants.
Sources said that the operation was launched on the basis of a specific Intelligence input regarding the presence of militants in Rajwar forests of Handwara police district. Police and Army jointly pursued the input and cordoned off a vast area near laribal on Thursday evening to track down the militants.
“As the operations progressed to track down the terrorists, contact was established at night and a fierce gun-battle ensued which continued intermittently through the night. In the operations, two heavily armed terrorists have been eliminated and a large quantity of arms, ammunition and other war like stores have been recovered including two AK-47 Rifles, two pistols and one UBGl with eight grenades. The identity of the killed terrorists is being ascertained”, lt Col NN Joshi, Defence spokesman in Srinagar said in a statement.
He said two Army soldiers were also killed in the fierce gun-battle.
This is the fourth major encounter in north Kashmir during past three weeks. Earlier, in separate encounters at Rafiabad, Uri and Tangdhar, nine militants and two soldiers were killed. It was not clear whether the slain militants were fresh infiltrators or they were active in the area for prolonged period.
On Wednesday, Pakistani troops had reportedly targeted Indian positions with Sniper Rifles. Two Border Security Force (BSF) personnel were wounded in the attack. Hizbul Mujahideen outfit claimed responsibility for the attack.
Meanwhile, unidentified gunmen decamped with service rifle of a policeman posted outside District Court Complex in Kulgam district of south Kashmir. Police said pistol-borne attackers, two in number, sprayed chilli powder into the cop’s eyes before snatching his INSAS rifle. The cop identified as Zahid Ahmed was inside a dilapidated bunker when he was attacked with chilli powder.
The fresh recruits into militancy in Kashmir generally attack detached columns of police and paramilitary or lonely cops to snatch their weapons. This trend is highly disturbing for the security forces who have issued instructions to cops to adhere to standard operating procedures during deployment.