TWO MILITANTS SHOT DEAD IN KASHMIR

SRINAGAR: Two militants, allegedly from the Lashkar-e-Taiba outfit, were killed in a gun battle with security forces after they attacked a police team in north Kashmir’s Kupwara district on Monday, police said.

Officials said the gunfight broke out after the militants opened fire at a police party in Zachaldara area of Handwara.

The militants targeted a police checkpoint after dusk, according to the police control room in Handwara.

A police spokesman said the slain militants were identified as Toib of Sopore and Ashiq of Palhallan Pattan.They were affiliated with the Hizbul Mujahideen outfit, the spokesperson said.

An army spokesman said the militants were killed in a joint operation with police and CRPF. A search was launched in the area after the encounter, the spokesman said.

On November 6, an army jawan and three militants were killed in an encounter in south Kashmir’s Pulwama district.The Pulwama gunfight took place on a day when the Centre’s interlocutor, Dineshwar Sharma, arrived in Jammu and Kashmir to initiate the dialogue process.

Sharma, a former chief of the Intelligence Bureau who was tasked by the Union government to initiate talks in Kashmir over the three-decade-old insurgency, met over 80 delegations during his three-day visit to the state Kashmir from November 6.