Four militants, three soldiers killed in 36-hour encounter on LoC

With the killing of two more militants and a soldier on Sunday, the total death total in the overnight encounter between the ultras and the army along the Line of Control (LoC) in Nowgam sector of north Kashmir’s Kupwara district reached seven. 

Defence spokesman Col Rajesh Kalia said four militants and three soldiers were killed in an operation in Nowgam sector. "Four weapons and other warlike stores were recovered at the encounter site. The sanitisation operation is on,” he said.

The operation had begun on Saturday evening after a group of heavily armed militants tried to infiltrate from across the LoC and were challenged by the soldiers of 4/1 Gorkha Regiment (GR) at Karan Post in Nowgam sector. In the initial gunfight, two militants and two soldiers were killed while the operation remained suspended during the night.

However, sources said, army had cordoned off a vast area with the help of additional reinforcements to ensure that the militants don't manage to escape from the area. "As the search operation resumed this morning, the hiding militants kept on changing their positions by firing indiscriminately on troops in the forest area. However, the alert troops didn't give them any escape route and neutralised two more ultras while one trooper also lost his life in the encounter," they said and added the search operation was continuing as army suspects some more militants might be present in the area.

This was the first infiltration bid along the Nowgam sector this year and came just two days after Defence Minister Arun Jaitley's meeting with the senior commanders and troops at a forward post along the LoC, where he reviewed the security situation on Thursday.

Sources said that at least 200 militants were waiting on the launch pads along the LoC for infiltration. With security forces grappling to control frenzy stone pelting youths in Kashmir Valley for the last few weeks, militant groups across the LoC are taking advantage of it and trying to make infiltration attempts in different sectors along the border, they said.

A senior Army officer said dozens of new launching pads have been activated by Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) and Hizb-ul-Mujahideen across the LoC and they are making all out efforts to push militants inside the Indian territory with the onset of summer.

Meanwhile, J&K deputy Chief Minister, Nirmal Singh expressed anguish over the death of Army soldiers while foiling infiltration bid along the LoC.