<div>Three local Lashker-e-Toiba (LeT) militants were killed in an ongoing encounter in south Kashmir’s Anantnag district on Thursday. A civilian was also killed when clashes erupted between security forces and stone-pelting protesters near the site.<br /><br />Sources said that the most-wanted militant and LeT Kashmir chief Abu Dujana was one of the many people trapped in a house in Hassanpora village, which lies close to Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti’s ancestral Bijbehara town, when security forces launched an operation in the area after they received information about the presence of four-six militants on Wednesday evening.<br /><br />“A meeting of militants of LeT and Hizbul-Mujahideen was underway when the security forces cordoned off the area. Dujana, who was presiding over the meeting, might have escaped, taking advantage of the clashes,” they said. However, the police and the army refused to confirm or deny Dujana’s presence in the house.<br /><br />Director General of Police (DGP) SP Vaid said that the body of one of the militants was seen near the gunfight site. “(But) we have not recovered the body as the other militants holed up in the building are firing. The encounter is still on,” he told reporters.<br /><br />Reports said a civilian was killed and another critically injured in the firing. Inspector General of Police (IGP) Kashmir SJM Gilani confirmed the killing of a civilian in the area saying he was hit by a stray bullet. Police appealed to people not to assemble or come close to the encounter sites as there are chances of the stray bullets hitting them.<br /><br />Soon after the news of a civilian being killed spread, hundreds of youth clashed with the security forces, who had to then resort to teargas shelling and pellet firing to disperse the protesters, in which scores of people were injured.<br /><br />Due to the apprehensions of protests, authorities on Thursday morning directed telecom operators to shutdown mobile and internet services in Anantnag and Kulgam districts to prevent rumours and leaking of details of the counter-insurgency operation through social media.<br /><br />Train services were also suspended in south Kashmir, which was affected the most due to the unrest triggered by the killing of Hizbul commander Burhan Wani on July 8.<br /></div>
<div>Three local Lashker-e-Toiba (LeT) militants were killed in an ongoing encounter in south Kashmir’s Anantnag district on Thursday. A civilian was also killed when clashes erupted between security forces and stone-pelting protesters near the site.<br /><br />Sources said that the most-wanted militant and LeT Kashmir chief Abu Dujana was one of the many people trapped in a house in Hassanpora village, which lies close to Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti’s ancestral Bijbehara town, when security forces launched an operation in the area after they received information about the presence of four-six militants on Wednesday evening.<br /><br />“A meeting of militants of LeT and Hizbul-Mujahideen was underway when the security forces cordoned off the area. Dujana, who was presiding over the meeting, might have escaped, taking advantage of the clashes,” they said. However, the police and the army refused to confirm or deny Dujana’s presence in the house.<br /><br />Director General of Police (DGP) SP Vaid said that the body of one of the militants was seen near the gunfight site. “(But) we have not recovered the body as the other militants holed up in the building are firing. The encounter is still on,” he told reporters.<br /><br />Reports said a civilian was killed and another critically injured in the firing. Inspector General of Police (IGP) Kashmir SJM Gilani confirmed the killing of a civilian in the area saying he was hit by a stray bullet. Police appealed to people not to assemble or come close to the encounter sites as there are chances of the stray bullets hitting them.<br /><br />Soon after the news of a civilian being killed spread, hundreds of youth clashed with the security forces, who had to then resort to teargas shelling and pellet firing to disperse the protesters, in which scores of people were injured.<br /><br />Due to the apprehensions of protests, authorities on Thursday morning directed telecom operators to shutdown mobile and internet services in Anantnag and Kulgam districts to prevent rumours and leaking of details of the counter-insurgency operation through social media.<br /><br />Train services were also suspended in south Kashmir, which was affected the most due to the unrest triggered by the killing of Hizbul commander Burhan Wani on July 8.<br /></div>
