Three LET militants gunned down in north Kashmir, civilian dies in crossfire

LOCAL RESIDENTS TOOK OUT A PROTEST AGAINST SECURITY PERSONNEL SOON AFTER THE ENCOUNTER; SCORES OF PEOPLE ALSO BRAVED THE RAINS TO ATTEND THE DECEASED WOMAN’S FUNERAL

SRINAGAR: Three Lashkar-etaiba militants were gunned down by security forces during a nightlong encounter at north Kashmir, police said on Monday morning. A civilian was also killed in the crossfire, they added.

“Three terrorists, all seemingly from Pakistan, were neutralised by a joint team of the Jammu and Kashmir Police, Rajasthan Rifles and the Central Reserve Police Force in Unisoo, Handwara. It was raining through the night, and our boys had to operate in the cold,” tweeted Jammu and Kashmir police chief SP Vaid.

Three bodies of armed militants were recovered, an Army spokesperson said. The woman killed in the crossfire was identified only as Mysra.

Sourced said local residents took out a protest against security personnel soon after the encounter. Scores of people also braved the rains to attend Mysra’s funeral.

“Acting on specific inputs, security personnel launched a cordon-and-search operation at Unisoo’s Mir Mohalla area in the Handwara police station limits. Terrorists hiding in the house of one Abdul Hamid Mir fired at the joint search party during the course of the operation. A woman was injured in the encounter that followed and, unfortunately, she succumbed to her injuries,” police said in a statement.

Chief minister Mehbooba Mufti expressed grief over Mysra’s death, besides the murder of two bank guards in a separate incident in Shopian district.

The opposition National Conference also lamented Mysra’s accidental death. The government should probe the circumstances that led to the incident and provide ex-gratia aid to her family, party president Farooq Abdullah and his son, working president Omar Abdullah, said in a joint statement.

Security forces recently claimed that they killed over 200 insurgents across the Valley in 2017. The year witnessed a series of counter-insurgency operations that resulted in the death of top militant commanders, including Abu Dujana and Waseem Shah of the Lashkar-etaiba; Tallah Rashid and Mehmood Bhai of the Jaish-e-mohammed; and Sabzar Ahmad Bhat of the Hizbul Mujahideen.