Srinagar: Six militants including a top Jaish-e-Mohammad commander, one civilian and two army personnel were killed in separate encounters in southern Kashmir’s Shopian and Pulwama districts on Thursday.
The encounter took place during the wee hours, after a joint team of security forces comprising Army’s 55 Rashtriya Rifles (RR) and Jammu and Kashmir police’s Special Operations Group received inputs about the presence of militants. Acting on the intel, the team cordoned off Pulwama’s Dalipora village.
A senior police official told News18 that the encounter took place as the government forces were gaining on the militants' suspected hideout.
An army personnel was injured in the shootout and is being treated at Army’s 92 base Srinagar hospital.
This is the first gunfight in which Jaish militants were killed following the blacklisting of their chief Masood Azhar by a United Nations committee. Amid the clashes, authorities imposed curfew and suspended mobile internet services. Mobile internet speed was also reduced in Srinagar city to prevent uploading of inflammatory pictures and posts.
According to police sources, the slain Jaish commander Khalid was the mastermind of the 2017 Lethpora attack on a CRPF installation in which five personnel and three suicide attackers were killed.
Another gunfight between the security forces and militants in Handew village of Shopian district left three militants and an army soldier dead.
The encounter took place after a joint team of Army’s 44 RR, Jammu and Kashmir Police’s SOG and CRPF launched a cordon and search operations in the village.
Locals have said that one among those killed is a civilian, who was working in his apple orchard when the shootout happened. Police officials, however, denied the claim.
The injured soldier was taken a nearby Army health facility for treatment and was later shifted to Army’s 92 base hospital in Srinagar.
In Dalipora, witnesses said that during the gunfight, local youths hit the streets and pelted security forces with stones and bricks. The forces retaliated by firing teargas and pellets.
At least five youths were injured in the faceoff that lasted for the duration of the gunfight.
(With inputs from IANS)
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