Soldier, policeman killed in Pulwama encounter
GUNFIGHT Officials say the militants hiding in Awantipora area opened fire on the forces
SRINAGAR: An Army jawan and a policeman have been killed in an encounter with militants in south Kahsmir’s Pulwama district on Tuesday, a day after three Hizb militants were killed in neighbouring Shopian.
Officials said that the gunfight started after a joint party of security forces cordoned Zantrag Khrew area of Awantipora in Pulwama after receiving information about the presence of militants. The hiding militants opened fire on the forces, triggering an exchange of fire between the two sides, they added.
“A policeman and an Army jawan have died in the encounter. The operation is still going on,” said Atul Kumar Goel, deputy inspector general of police, south Kashmir.
The identities of the security men have not been released officially.
According to sources, the slain policeman is a special police officer(spo) from Rajouri district.
Though officials say the operation is going on, locals and eyewitnesses suspect the militants might have escaped.
“Security forces have been conducting searches for the past some time, though there has been no exchange of fire now,” said a local.
This was the fifth encounter between militants and security forces in Kashmir this year.
Three local Hizbul Mujahideen militants, including a commander a nd a f o r mer c o p involved in a major weapons’ heist in 2018,were killed in an encounter with security forces in south Kashmir’s Shopian district on Monday.
A local Hizbul militant was killed in an encounter with security forces in central Kashmir’s
Budgam district on January 14.
Earlier on January 12, three Hizbul militants were killed in a gun battle with security forces in south Kashmir’s Pulwama district.
One of the slain militants was commander Umer Fayaz Lone, alias Hamad Khan,a resident of Tral in south Kashmir.
In the first encounter of 2020 in Kashmir, a young man of south Kashmir, who had gone missing from his home town of Bijbehara on January 2 and apparently joined militancy, was killed in an encounter with security forces in Awantipora on January 7.
Shahid Ahmad, believed to be in his late teens, was killed in Chursi area of south Kashmir’s Awantipora in a brief shootout with the forces.
Last year on November 26, two militants were killed in an encounter with security forces in Tahab Rajpora area of Pulwama in south Kashmir.