Five militants of Jaish-e-Mohammed (JEM) outfit and two soldiers were killed in a fierce gun battle in Marsari Village in Chowkibal area of north Kashmir’s Kupwara district on Saturday.
Four soldiers, including an officer, have been wounded in the encounter that started on Friday evening following specific information that a group of militants was hiding in an abandoned house. It continued throughout the night. The house where the militants had taken shelter was destroyed in the operation.
Commander of 68 Mountain Brigade, Brigadier SP Singh told reporters the operation finished on Saturday afternoon.
“We have eliminated all five militants. The ultras were holed up in a house in a location where intervention was difficult. But despite the night temperature ranging between minus 10 to 15 degrees Celsius, our soldiers worked right through the night and tightened the siege around the house making it impossible for the terrorists to escape”, Brig Singh said.
He said the operation has been called off but the area is being sanitized to ensure there is no post-operation damage.
“It was a neat operation with no collateral damage or harm to civilian population”, he said.
Senior Superintendent of Police, Kupwara, Aijaz Bhat said that bodies of four militants were found in the debris and another body was recovered from the basement of the collapsed house after the operation was over.
“Five AK-47s with 25 magazines have been recovered from the encounter site along-with huge quantity of ammunition,” Bhat said.
He said evidence found at the site of the encounter indicated that the militants had infiltrated recently and might be associated with JeM.
“They were wearing white clothes and an ice-cutting axe was found in their possession”, he said.
The encounter site was in the vicinity of an Army camp and the final assault was launched against the militants at the crack of dawn. In the retaliatory fire, six soldiers including an officer were wounded. They were evacuated to hospital where two soldiers succumbed to their injuries.