Another militant killed in Kupwara; toll reaches 7

Another militant was killed in an overnight encounter with security forces on Friday in Handwara.

With this, the death toll of ultras reached seven in three different encounters in the past 24 hours in north Kashmir’s frontier Kupwara district.

The gunfight was going on in Waderbala, Handwara since Thursday afternoon. A police official said one unidentified militant has been killed in the encounter.

On Thursday, six unidentified militants were killed in two separate encounters in Lolab and Drugmulla areas of the district.

Brigadier Rajeev Puri, Commander 8-sector, Rashtriya Rifles, told reporters in Kupwara that besides huge quantity of ammunition, made in Pakistan food packets, GPS and maps were recovered from the possession of the slain militants.

He revealed that 220 militants including 100 Pakistanis were active in Kashmir Valley at the moment. The Brigadier said that it is not possible to say whether more militants are active in north or south Kashmir.

“The militants keep shifting from one area to other. Sometimes they are in north and then they change their bases to south,” the Army commander said.