Three militants, teenager killed in J&K gunbattles
2 LeT men gunned down, boy killed by stray bullet
SRINAGAR: Three militants and a 15-year-old boy were killed on Thursday in two separate gunfights between security forces and militants in Jammu and Kashmir, police said.
Two Lashkar men were killed in south Kashmir’s Pulwama that again saw protesters throwing stones at troops, the police said. Teenager Amir Nazir, who sneaked close to the site of the gunfight, died when he was hit by a stray bullet, state police chief SP Vaid said. Death of another youth in the area fuelled rumours that he was killed during protests but police denied it, saying the man died of a cardiac arrest.
A militant, identified as Mushtaq Ahmed, was killed during a search operation in Malangaam area of Bandipore in north Kashmir. The gun battle in Padgampora of Pulwama broke out after security forces launched a search operation at around 2.30am after they were told about militants hiding in the village, a police official said.
Holed up in two adjacent houses, the militants opened fire and the joint team of the army and police retaliated, triggering a fierce gun battle that carried on for more than nine hours. It ended with the death of the two gunmen. Sources identified them as Jehangir Ganai and Shafi Sher Gujri, residents of nearby Queil who were members of the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba. Ganai was reportedly killed in the early hours of the firing.