Kupwara: 10-year-old girl, 3 Pakistani militants killed in encounter

Srinagar (J&K): Three militants - all believed to be Pakistani nationals, were killed in a gunfight with security forces in Jammu and Kashmir’s frontier district of Kupwara. The gunfight began on Tuesday night.

A 10-year-old resident identified as Kaneeza Tanveeza also died, while her brother Faisal was critically injured during the clash, officials said.

While one report said that Tanveeza died of a massive cardiac arrest, another talked about her being hit by a “stray bullet”. She was the daughter of Muhammad Khushi Chaki in whose house the militants were hiding and were shot dead by security forces during the encounter.

The police and Army officials said that the security forces including the J&K Police’s counterinsurgency Special Operations Group (SOG), the Army’s 41 Rashtriya Rifles and 98 Battalion of the CRPF laid siege to Kund Nar of Kupwara’s Batapora, Haihama area on Tuesday evening to take on a group of militants hiding in a private house close to a gully surrounded by thick forest.

In the ensuing encounter, all the three militants were killed and a SOG jawan was injured, the officials said. They added that as many AK 47 rifles with some ammunition were found on the slain men. They confirmed that one civilian was also killed “after being hit by a stray bullet” during the encounter.

Hospital sources said that the policeman had received a bullet wound on the chest and that his condition is ‘critical’.

The officials claimed that the search operation was launched in the area following a tip off about the presence of militants. While the security forces were sealing the area and moving towards Kund Nar, militants hiding in the house resorted to indiscriminate firing, triggering the encounter.