2 foreign militants killed in Handwara encounter
Two foreign militants were killed in a brief encounter with security forces in north Kashmir’s Handwara on Sunday, police said. The firefight took place around 4 pm.
Officials said that a joint party of police and army’s 21 Rashtriya Rifles launched a search operation after inputs about presence of militants in Waripora village of Handwara, some 75 km from Srinagar.
Police control room Handwara said that the militants who were cornered in an orchard, just meters away from the populated area in Waripora, opened fire on the security forces who then retaliated.
“Two militants were killed in the operation,” said Ghulam Jeelani, superintendent of police, Handwara.
Jeelani said that they were lucky to trap the militants 100 meters away from the village which prevented any chances of untoward incidents among the villagers. “Both the militants are foreigners. We are trying to ascertain their identity. Since Lashkar-e-Taiba is active in the region, we suspect the militants are from the same outfit,” he said.
An army spokesman said two weapons were also recovered from the spot.
Earlier during the day, a civilian who was wounded during a militant attack on a police party on May 6 in south Kashmir’s Anantnag district succumbed to his injuries. The death toll in that incident has now risen to six, with the death of Mohammad Hussain Dar in hospital.
“The body has been sent to his native village,” a police spokesman said.
Dar was injured after militants attacked a police party on its way to clear traffic after a road accident at Mir Bazar area in Anantnag district on the national highway. The exchange of fire left a policeman, three other civilians and a militant dead.
is hopeful of a positive outcome as it braces for a complex legal tussle with Pakistan at the International Court of Justice in Hague on Monday, after a gap of 18 years.
As the oral hearing begins in the case of Kulbushan Jadhav, who was sentenced to death on charges of espionage and sabotage, New Delhi is hopeful of overcoming Pakistan’s objections to the ICJ’s jurisdiction.
India believes its move to go to ICJ has taken Pakistan by surprise, with its national not getting even consular access even after 16 requests. Senior lawyer Harish Salve will argue India’s case.
This is the second time India is going to ICJ, the first being in 1971.
“Countries move ICJ in a caseby-case manner. Going to ICJ also shows the confidence India shows since the 2000s in moving multilateral forums,” TCA Raghavan, former Indian high commissioner to Pakistan, told Hindustan Times.
CONTINUED ON P 5