Three militants, an Army Major and a soldier have been killed in a 17-hour-long gun-battle in Karewa Manloo village of south Kashmir's mountainous Shopian district. The Army suffered fatal casualties after a militant sprang up from the rubble of his hideout to open fire on the security personnel. He was instantly killed in retaliation.
Police confirmed on Saturday that the encounter that erupted on Friday afternoon ended after the last militant was shot dead. Sources said that the Army suffered fatal casualties when a group of soldiers attempted to search the debris of destroyed hideout hours after firing stopped from the militants' side. The security forces had presumed that all militants died after the house collapse but one of them had taken cover underneath a crumbling portion.
When the search party went inside the house, the militant opened indiscriminate fire hitting two soldiers from close range. Major Mukund Vardarajan and a soldier sustained grievous injuries in the bout of fire. They were shifted to 92 Base Hospital in Srinagar where they succumbed to injuries. The soldiers belonged to 44 Rashtriya Rifles.
Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG) south Kashmir, Vijay Kumar stated that the slain militants belonged to Hizbul Mujahideen outfit. He said that it was not established whether this group of militants was responsible for the killing of a school teacher Zia-ul-Haq who was posted as Polling Officer in the area on April 24 when south Kashmir went for the Parliamentary polls. The bodies of the militants and the weapons have been recovered from the encounter site.
"The militants belonged to Hizbul Mujahideen and have been identified as Asif Ahmad Wani, Shabir Ahmad Gorsi and Abdul Haq Malik, all local residents. These militants were involved in a number of militancy related incidents," a police spokesman said.Asif was formerly a Jaish militant who had joined Hizb outfit and become its "district commander". Abdul Haq Malik was involved in the killing of a policeman in Arwani area last year, police said.