Militant killed, 4 infiltrators reported dead

SRINAGAR: A newly-recruited militant was killed in a brief gunfight by security forces on Thursday, hours after he managed to give them a slip after carrying out a grenade attack on a police party, injuring three cops, even as in a major success, four infiltrators are reported to be killed when the Army foiled an infiltration bid along the Line of Control (LoC) in Uri sector of Baramulla today.

The killings were, however, not confirmed by Army at the time of filing this report, even as a search operation for recovery of bodies was underway.

However, seven Army soldiers were injured—three of them critically, after militants on late Thursday night tried to blow up their Casper vehicle through an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) blast in Pulwama district.

On Thursday morning, a Tehreek-ul-Mujahideen (TuM) militant involved in a grenade attack in which three police personnel were injured in Baramulla district was killed Thursday in a gunfight with security forces in Pulwama district, police said.

Showkat Ahmad Bhat was wanted in Wednesday's Pattan grenade incident and was killed in the gunfight in the south Kashmir district, a police official said.

He said some arms and ammunition were recovered from his possession.

Bhat had managed to escape Wednesday while his accomplice, Faizan Majeed Bhat - a resident of Tral in Pulwama - was arrested by the police who chased them after the militants lobbed a grenade on a police party at a naka in Pattan area.

Three police personnel, including Deputy Superintendent of Police Zafar Mehdi, were injured in the attack. The duo had recently joined Tehreek-ul-Mujahideen outfit, the official said.

In what look like a major success, the Army Thursday foiled an infiltration bid along the Line of Control (LoC) in Uri sector and reportedly killed as many as four infiltrators.

“Alert troops of army’s 5 Grenadier noticed some suspicious movement along the LoC near Tourna in Boniyar forest area in the early hours of Thursday and challenged the infiltrators at around 8:30 a.m,” the officials said.

The infiltrators opened firing at the security forces which was retaliated by the soldiers, they said.

The gunfight continued intermittently till 12:30 pm and in it, four militants have been killed, sources informed The News Now.

“Four unidentified militants have been killed and their identity and group affiliation are being ascertained. Three bodies were recovered at around 1:30 pm and later one more body was recovered late in the evening as the area is a high terrain and have dense forest cover,” they said.

Since the area has tough terrain, bodies are being carried to the police station and it might take some time, they added.

However, Army has said that no bodies have been recovered yet.

A search operation is underway, the Army officials said.

Meanwhile, militants Thursday night targeted security forces with an IED explosion in Pulwama district, injuring seven soldiers and damaging their Casper vehicle.

“Around 9:45 pm militants triggered the IED planted under a bridge on Trichal-Lassipora road when the armored vehicle (Casper) of 55 RR was crossing the bridge.

“Seven soldiers were injured in the blast,” police said, adding that army retaliated with firing soon after the blast.

Among the injured three seriously wounded have been airlifted to army’s 92 base hospital and four others were taken to a nearby military health facility.

However, there was no militant causality reported so far in the incident even as the forces cordoned off the entire area and launched searches to nab the attackers.