Jawan, militant killed in gunfight; hideout busted

SRINAGAR: A militant and a soldier were killed in a gunfight that erupted on Tuesday morning in south Kashmir’s Kulgam district, while a militant hideout was busted in Pulwama district following another encounter.

Deputy inspector general of police SP Pani said the gunfight in Nowbug Kund area of Kulgam ended with the deaths of a soldier and a militant. A policeman was injured but stable.

The gunfight erupted after police, army’s Rashtriya Rifles and CRPF launched a cordon and search operation (CASO) in the area. “The firing stopped in Kulgam in the morning itself but we are still searching the area,” Pani said late in the evening.

Pani said the identity of the slain militant was being ascertained. “He seems to be a Hizbul Mujahideen operative but we can confirm his identity once his family identifies the body,” he said, suggesting that the militant was a local. Police control room, Kulgam, informed that the soldier belonged to 10 Sikh-LI regiment.

Meanwhile, the encounter between security forces and militants which started in Laan Tral area of Pulwama ended with the

IDENTITY OF THE SLAIN MILITANT WAS BEING ASCERTAINED, THOUGH COPS SAID HE APPEARED TO BE A HIZBUL MUJAHIDEEN OPERATIVE

busting of a militant hideout.

“A huge hideout of Jaish-e-Mohammad outfit was busted in Tral,” Pani said.

The encounters in south Kashmir came after two local Hizbul Mujahideen militants were killed when they attacked a police checkpoint in north Kashmir’s Handwara on Monday night.

An army jawan and three militants were killed in an encounter in south Kashmir’s Pulwama district on November 6 when the Centre’s interlocutor, Dineshwar Sharma, arrived 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 on his three day visit to Kashmir from November 6.

However, Hurriyat leaders did not meet him nor did he visit any separatist leader.