A militant was killed while an Army soldier and three policemen including a junior officer were injured in two separate incidents of violence in south Kashmir’s Shopian and Pulwama districts, official sources said.
A heavy contingent of Army and anti-insurgency police cordoned off Dobijan area on Mughal Road in south Kashmir’s Shopian district on Saturday morning following a tip-off that a group of militants was hiding in the forest area. The cordon was followed by an exchange of fire that resulted into death of a militant, suspected to be a local resident.
Spokesman of the Ministry of Defence in Srinagar Colonel Rajesh Kalia said that one militant has been killed while an army soldier was injured in the encounter. The entire area remained cordoned off for the entire day and the security forces continued search operation to track down other militants.
The wounded soldier was evacuated to hospital.
This is the first operation in south Kashmir region where security forces followed a tip-off to track down militants since the death of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani on July 8. Earlier, an operation was conducted in Pampore area where militants were holed up in a government building but they were spotted after they opened fire on the security forces.
The Army had halted anti-militancy operations in south Kashmir for several weeks following Burhan Wani’s killing.
Meanwhile, suspected militants blew up a police vehicle at Dadsara village in south Kashmir’s Pulwama district late on Friday night injuring three policemen including a sub-inspector. Sources said that militants fired several rounds in the area, which caught the attention of local police. A police team rushed into the area in a vehicle which was blown off by an Improvised Explosive Device (IED). Sources said the vehicles received extensive damage and three policemen on board were wounded.
No militant group has claimed responsibility for the attack.