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  India   5 militants, 2 soldiers killed in J&K

5 militants, 2 soldiers killed in J&K

Published : Feb 14, 2016, 4:53 am IST
Updated : Feb 14, 2016, 4:53 am IST

Five Islamic militants and two Army jawans were killed and four others injured in a 22-hour long fierce gunbattle in Chowkibal woods of Jammu and Kashmir’s frontier district of Kupwara on Saturday.

Army personnel take position during an encounter at Chowkibal, in Kupwara district of J&K, on Saturday. (Photo: PTI)
 Army personnel take position during an encounter at Chowkibal, in Kupwara district of J&K, on Saturday. (Photo: PTI)

Five Islamic militants and two Army jawans were killed and four others injured in a 22-hour long fierce gunbattle in Chowkibal woods of Jammu and Kashmir’s frontier district of Kupwara on Saturday.

The slain soldiers have been identified as Naik Shinde Shankar Chandrabhan and Gunner Sahadev Maruti. Chief of Northern Command, Lt Gen. D.S. Hooda, has expressed his condolences to their families. Defence spokesman Col. S.D. Goswami termed the killing of five militants as “another major blow to the terror outfits” in Jammu and Kashmir. The identity of the slain militants is being ascertained, he said.

The police and Army officials said that the fighting started at 3. 30 pm on Friday after troops from Army’s 41 Rashtriya Rifles, 16 Grenadiers and 19 Maratha Regiment along with the men from J&K police’s counter-insurgency Special Operations Group (SOG) and CRPF moved in to take on a heavily armed group of militants hiding in a private house owned by one Gulam Muhammad Butt in Marsari village close to Zunreshi forest area.

”The operation was started after reports that militants are hiding in a house near a forest in the area. As the security forces were zeroing on it, they came under a barrage of gunfire, injuring one Army jawan,” said a police officer over the phone from Kupwara.

In the ensuring fire fight which continued till Saturday afternoon, five militants and two Army jawans were killed. Among the injured is Maj. Harvinder of 41 RR who led a group of seven soldiers to confront the holed up militants, reports said. Earlier reports had said four militants were killed, but SSP Kupwara Ijaz Ahmed Bhat said that the corpse of another militant has been retrieved from the debris. He also said that five AK-47 rifles were also found at the encounter site.

Intelligence inputs available with the police authorities said that the militants’ group had been active in the area for the past about three months after it sneaked into Kupwara from across the Line of Control (LoC). The group may have also one or two local militants on it, officials said.

A report from Kupwara said that the house in which the militants were hiding was blown up by the security forces using explosives during the fighting. The police officer said that the injured soldiers were shifted to a nearby military hospital where their condition is stated to “stable”. The officer said that one of the two other soldiers died on way to hospital and the other soon after he was brought to hospital.

Defence spokesman Col. Goswami confirmed the Army casualties, saying “Two brave soldiers of the Indian Army attained martyrdom when they were engaged in a fierce encounter with a group of terrorists hiding in a built up area”. Srinagar-based defence spokesman Col. N.N. Joshi giving the details of the encounter said, “ As the Army commenced the search of a suspect house, it drew heavy volume of fire and grenades from terrorists hiding in the house. Despite the disadvantage of being fired upon by terrorists from the upper floor of the house, the soldiers immediately retaliated”. He added while the soldiers engaged the militants, additional reinforcement effectively cordoned off the house to prevent their escape.

Location: India, Jammu and Kashmir, Srinagar