CRPF jawan, 2 ultras killed in Pulwama

Indian, Pak troops clash in Machael sector of the LoC

Two militants and a CRPF jawan were killed in a gunfight in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pulwama district on Tuesday.

The officials said that a joint team of the J&K police’s counterinsurgency Special Operations Group, the Army’s 55 Rashtriya Rifles and the 182nd Battalion of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) laid siege to Pulwama’s Bundzoo village after receiving input about presence of militants there.

“During the search operation as the presence of militants got ascertained they were given the opportunity to surrender. However, they fired indiscriminately upon the joint search party, which was retaliated leading to an encounter in which two militants were killed,” the police said.

A CRPF jawan who was critically injured in the encounter died in the hospital later, the police said.

Meanwhile, the security forces said on Tuesday that they ‘busted’ a militant hideout in Buffliaz sector of the Line of Control (LoC) in J&K’s Poonch district.

The officials said that a joint search operation launched by the Army and J&K police in the area of Hill Kakka and Chotian Wali Dhok of Buffliaz in Surankote area led to the recovery one Pika gun with 7.62 mm rounds and 222 cartridges.

Separately, the security forces claimed they recovered some weapons and other items in the use of militants including one magazine of AK-47 rifle and 40 rounds of ammunition and an UBGL with six UBGL grenades in Harwan forest area of Srinagar. No arrests were made in either case.

Meanwhile, the Indian and Pakistani troops again clashed in Machael sector of the LoC in Kupwara district on Tuesday.

No fresh casualties were reported on the Indian side of the de facto border.