The Army said on Thursday that a militant was killed during a gunfight with security forces in Chapran Gujjarpati area of Aragam village in Jammu and Kashmir’s northern Bandipora district earlier in t
The Army said on Thursday that a militant was killed during a gunfight with security forces in Chapran Gujjarpati area of Aragam village in Jammu and Kashmir’s northern Bandipora district earlier in the day, while three militants escaped the security dragnet laid around the hilly area inhabited mainly by the nomadic Gujjar tribe.
In another incident, the Army, according to some media reports, foiled two more infiltration bids from across the Line of Control (LoC) even as operations against two other groups of militants who had sneaked into Uri and Nowgam sectors of the twin districts of Baramulla and Kupwara earlier during the week were still underway.
There was no official confirmation about fresh infiltration bids, however. A defence spokesman said, “The operations which started Tuesday morning in Uri and Nowgam sectors are still on. We will let you know about the outcome after these are over.”
Since there are huge gaps between what the Army has been saying officially on the incidents that have taken place in the frontier region over past few days and the information being disseminated by some national TV channels and sections of print media, the concerned authorities here have recommended that only the information which comes through the Army and other reliable sources alone may be accepted as being factual.
In Gujjarpati, aoon after the killing of the militant, surging crowds surrounded a nearby Army camp demanding that the body be handed over to them for Islamic funeral and burial procedure.
Local police quickly relocated to the area and fired several teargas canisters to quell protests.
This led to clashes between the two sides which continued for a few hours, witnesses said.
The Army officials said that the encounter began in the morning after troops moved into Gujjarpati following receiving information about the presence of militants in the area. The troops from the Army’s Rashtriya Rifles were acco-mpanied by members of J&K police’s counterinsurgency Special Operations Group (SOG) and the CRPF, reports said.
They together laid siege around one of the houses that was being used by the militants as a hideout. On seeing the security forces zeroing on the house, the holed up militants opened fire, triggering the encounter. One of the four militants engaged the security forces while others escaped using the rear side of the premises and then disappeared into nearby woods, sources said. Bandipore’s deputy superintendent of police (operations), Murtaza Hussain Mir, confirmed one militant was killed in the fire fight and said that his identity was being ascertained. A search operation was on in the area when reports last came in. Army officials told visiting reporters that three to four militants may have given slip to the raiding party. Reports said that several protesters were hurt in police action in the area following the killing of the militant. One of them, teenager Tauseef Ahmed Ganai, who sustained pellet wounds, was brought to Srinagar’s SMHS hospital for treatment. “He was first taken to Bandipore’s sub-district hospital but since he had suffered multiple pellet wounds we referred him to Srinagar,” said a local doctor over the phone.
