Gun battle in Bandipora forests

Excelsior Correspondent
Srinagar, Nov 1: Security forces had a brief gun battle with a group of Lashkar-e-Toiba militants in the forests of North Kashmir’s Bandipora district this evening as the major operation against the group continued for last one week.
Militants this evening fired at security forces in forest area of Bandipora, during the search operation launched by security forces a week ago. The security forces returned the fire but since it was dark and is a dense forest area, the searches would be conducted in the morning.
Last week on October 28, Rifleman Samod, of 14 RR was killed in the same area during a brief gun battle with a group of militants.
The Army’s 14, 22, 27, 29, 30, 31, 32 and 52 Rashtriya Rifles (RR), 7 para-commandos, Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and Special Operations Group (SOG) of Jammu and Kashmir Police launched a massive operation against LeT militant group that is hiding in Bandipora forests.
Security forces noticed the movement of 3-4 LeT militants with whom Army had a brief encounter Serinder Kudara forest on October 27 morning. The militants, however, managed to escape after the gun battle due to dense fog in the area.
Army had launched search operation for past several weeks in the forest area where LeT militants have established a base for past two months.
Reports said that there were some 17 militants in Bandipora forests but Abu Qasim, the LeT top commander who was killed last week had managed to shift a group of 9 militants out of the group to South Kashmir and 8 of them are still hiding in the forests.

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