Fayaz Bukhari
-Excelsior/Aabid Nabi
SRINAGAR, Oct 13: Militants today shot dead a soldier in North Kashmir district of Kupwara and security forces have launched massive searches to trace out the militants responsible for the attack. A police party was attached in a village in Kulgam and security forces have cordoned it.
An Army officer said that militants fired on an Army patrol of 30 and 21 Rashtriya Rifles (RR) at Muldari forests in Handwara’s Wudurbala area this morning. He said that one Army personnel identified as gunner Gurau Sahib Singh of 30 RR was killed on the spot.
The officer said that the fire was returned and encounter lasted for about an hour. The officer said that the militants who fired on the troops were 2-3 in number and troops have launched massive searches in the area to trace them out.
The officer said that militants after attacking the Army patrol fled under the cover of darkness.
The officer said that the reinforcement of 30RR, 32RR, 6 RR, 9 Para, Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and Special Operations Group (SOG) Handwara was rushed to the area to trace out the militants.
A police officer said that troops also conducted searches Wudurbala village but no militant was found there. He said Army has recovered one AK 47 rifle from the forests during searches.
The Army officer said that massive searches have been launched in a vast forest area but no contact was established yet. He said that 4-5 militants of Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) are operating in the area and they could be responsible for the attack on Army patrol. He said that the operation against the militant group would continue.
Militants this evening fired on a police search party at Nowpora in Kulgam district and security forces launched a cordon and search operation.
The Deputy Inspector General of Police, South Kashmir, Vijay Kumar, told Excelsior that a police party heard some firing shots inside a Nowpora village. The village was immediately cordoned off and searches are going on and there are inputs that two militants may be inside. He said that in the morning searches will be resumed. He said that since the village is big, searches will take time.
In the meantime an Army officer said that Army and Police killed 8 militants in last 40 days in the hinterland in joint operations and Army killed 10 infiltrators along the Line of Control (LoC) in Kashmir.
An Army officer said that in the beginning of September, Army eliminated three militants in an encounter at Hanjan Bala near Shopian on September 2. He said that four more militants were killed at Laribal near Rajwar and Pharkian on September 9 and 10 in North Kashmir.
The officer said that two militants were killed at Machhal on September 17 and four more militants were eliminated at Tangdhar on September 19. The officer said that one more militant was killed at Lolab on September 30, bringing the total number of militants eliminated during the Month to 14.
This month three militants were killed while they were trying to infiltrate into Kashmir from Tangdhar sector and 2 escaped back to the Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK). One militant of Hizbul Mujahideen was killed in Pulwama while another escaped from the security cordon.
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