Fayaz Bukhari
SRINAGAR, Sept 30: A militant of Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) was killed while at least three others slipped out of security cordon in Lolab area of North Kashmir’s Kupwara district today.
A police spokesman said that acting on a specific information regarding presence of militants a joint search operation was launched in the Afan, Warnow Lolab in district Kupwara by Kupwara Police and 18-Rashtriya Rifles (RR) of Army today.
The spokesman said that the joint party was fired upon and an encounter ensued. “During the encounter, one unidentified militant was killed. One AK-47 rifle, 5 Magazines, 60 rounds, 4 Matrix, 2 cell phones, one GPS and one UBGL grenade have been recovered from the encounter site,” the spokesman added.
An Army spokesman said here that based on a specific intelligence input an operation was launched by police and Army in Lolab in which one militant was killed. “The operation is still in progress against the militant group”, the spokesman added.
Sources said that the operation was launched by Special Operations Group (SOG) of Jammu and Kashmir Police, Kupwara and 18 RR against a group of 4-5 militants. However, when contact was established 28 and 47 RR also joined the operation to strengthen the cordon.
“One militant identified as Omar Hafiz alias Hafizul Omar was killed in the encounter. He has been identified as Pakistani national as his name was written in his dairy that was recovered from the site of the encounter”, sources said.
Sources said that 3-4 militants have managed to flee from the cordon but security forces have cordoned more areas to trace the rest members of the group. They said more troops were rushed to the area to strengthen the cordon.
Sources said that the militant group is part of the group whose four members were killed last month in Kalaroos area of Kupwara district after security forces launched operation against the group on August 15. Army also lost its three jawans in the operation that had lasted for two weeks last month.
Sources said that these militants have infiltrated into Kupwara this summer and security forces have trapped them in the forests only.
An Army official said that 11 militants were killed since September 7 when floods hit Srinagar and other parts of Kashmir valley.
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