Two anti-militancy operations underway in Shopian, Bijbehara; 14-yr-old trapped in Shopian, family at spot to persuade him to surrender, say Officials
ANANTNAG: An unidentified militant has been killed while two Army men have been injured in an ongoing gunfight that raged between forces and militants in South Kashmir’s Shopian district.
Presently, two anti-militancy operations are underway at Chitragam area of Shopian and Simthan village of Bijbehara area in Anantnag district of South Kashmir, officials said Saturday. They told the news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO) that at Simthan, Bijbehara, there was no fresh contact with the militants after the first exchange of fire, while a massive search operation was going on.
Officials said that an encounter broke out between militants and security forces in orchards of Chitragam area in Shopian district. A top official told KNO that one militant has been killed and two Army personnel have been injured in the gunfight.
The gunfight broke out in the area after a joint team of Police, Army’s 34 RR and CRPF launched a Cordon and Search Operation (CASO) on specific information about the presence of militants in the area, an official said.
He said that as the joint team of forces approached towards the suspected spot, the hiding militants fired upon them, which was retaliated, thus triggering an encounter.
A senior police officer also confirmed the exchange of fire between forces and militants.
As per the sources, two to three militants are believed to be trapped in the area. “Intermittent exchange was going on till this report was filed,” the official said.
An official said that a 14-year-old boy, who was missing for the last couple of days, is also trapped at the gunfight site, saying that the family of the boy has been called to persuade him to surrender.
Meanwhile, the second encounter broke out in orchards of Simthan village of Bijbehara area in South Kashmir’s Kulgam. An official said that a joint team of Police, Army’s 3 RR and CRPF launched a cordon and search operation on specific information about the presence of militants in the area.
He said that as the joint team of forces approached towards the suspected spot, the hiding militants fired upon them, which was retaliated, thus triggering an encounter.
A senior police officer also confirmed the exchange of fire between forces and militants at the outset. As per the sources, two to three militants are believed to be trapped in the area.
Notably, the two fresh encounters took place just a day after seven militants including a AGuH Chief were killed in two separate encounters at Jan Mohalla Shopian and Nowbugh Tral.