Srinagar: Three members of Kashmir’s indigenous militant outfit Hizb-ul-Mujahideen were killed in a gunfight with security forces in Aishmuqam area of southern Anantnag district on Monday.
Police authorities said the fighting broke out after militants targeted a joint search part of Army and local police's counterinsurgency Special Operations Group (SOG) in Silgam village outside Aishmuqam Township in the morning. The security forces had earlier laid siege to the area after learning about the presence of militants.
The authorities identified the slain militants as Adil, Arif and Amir and said they were residents of neighbouring Bijbehara area. “The fight has stopped but the search operation is still underway, “ a senior police officer said over the phone from the area.
The encounter comes close on the heels of a similar clash that took place in woods of Handwara in frontier Kupwara district and in which a militant was killed and a lieutenant colonel of the 160 Territorial Army was seriously injured.
Meanwhile, an Army jawan who was earlier injured in an exchange of fire with suspected militants near the Line of Control in Nowshera sector of frontier Rajouri has succumbed in hospital. A defence spokesman had earlier said in Jammu that an Army patrol “was attacked in forward location and militants fired upon the troops which was retaliated, leading to a brief exchange of gunfire”.
