5 terrorists, 2 jawans killed in an encounter in Jammu and Kashmir's Kupwara
Srinagar: Five militants and two Army jawans were killed and four others injured in a 22-hour long gun battle in Chowkibal woods of Jammu and Kashmir’s Kupwara district on Saturday.
The dead soldiers have been identified as Naik Shinde, Shankar Chandrabhan and Gunner Sahadev Maruti. Chief of Northern Command, Lt Gen. DS Hooda has expressed his condolences to the families of the deceased. Defence spokesman Colonel S.D. Goswami termed the killing of five militants as “another major blow to the terror outfits” in Jammu and Kashmir. The identities of the dead militants are being ascertained, he said.
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 counterinsurgency Special Operations Group (SOG) and CRPF moved in to take on a heavily armed group of militants hiding in a house 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.
The exchange of fire continued till around noon on Saturday, killing five militants and two Army jawans. Among the injured is an Army Major, reports said. Earlier reports put the number of militants killed to four, but SSP Kupwara Ijaz Ahmed Bhat said that the corpse of another militant has been retrieved from the debris of the house. He also said that five AK-47 rifles were also found at the encounter site.
Intelligence inputs available with the police authorities said the militants’ group had been active in the area for the past three months after it sneaked into Kupwara, trespassing 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; the soldiers are in a stable condition now. The officer said that one of the two other soldiers died on his way to the hospital, whereas the latter died after reaching the 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. NN Joshi giving the details of the encounter said, “As the Army commenced the search of the suspected house, it drew heavy volume of fire and grenades from terrorists hiding in the house.” He added while the soldiers engaged the militants, additional reinforcement effectively cordoned off the house to prevent their escape.
