<div align="justify">Three armymen and a woman were killed, while five soldiers, including two officers, were injured after militants ambushed a patrol party in south Kashmir’s Shopian district in the early hours on Thursday.<br /><br />A police spokesperson said the army’s 44 Rashtriya Rifles and police carried out a search and cordon operation at Kungnoo in Shopian, 62 km from here. <br /><br />“The operation concluded without any arrest or recovery,” the spokesman said. “While returning from Kungnoo, militants attacked the army party at Mulu in Chitragam at 2 am. <br /><br />Eight army personnel, including two officers, were injured in the incident. Three of them succumbed to their injuries.”<br /><br />The spokesperson said an elderly woman, identified as Taja, was hit by a stray bullet inside her house. She later succumbed to injuries. The injured soldiers have been flown to the army’s 92 Base Hospital in Srinagar.<br /><br />The slain army personnel have been identified as Sreejit M J, Vikas Kumar and Ghulam Muhammad Rather, while the injured include Lt Col Mukesh Jha, Major Amardeep Singh, Surendra Kumar, Sumer Singh and Ajay Pal. <br /><br />Sources said the attackers escaped from the encounter site taking advantage of the dark. “It was a well-planned ambush by the militants and a source trap can’t be ruled out,” a source said. <br /><br />“While the army had gone to hunt militants in a remote village after they received information from a source, nothing was found in the area. However, on their return, the search party was ambushed, which indicates militants had prepared in advance,” the source added.<br /></div>
<div align="justify">Three armymen and a woman were killed, while five soldiers, including two officers, were injured after militants ambushed a patrol party in south Kashmir’s Shopian district in the early hours on Thursday.<br /><br />A police spokesperson said the army’s 44 Rashtriya Rifles and police carried out a search and cordon operation at Kungnoo in Shopian, 62 km from here. <br /><br />“The operation concluded without any arrest or recovery,” the spokesman said. “While returning from Kungnoo, militants attacked the army party at Mulu in Chitragam at 2 am. <br /><br />Eight army personnel, including two officers, were injured in the incident. Three of them succumbed to their injuries.”<br /><br />The spokesperson said an elderly woman, identified as Taja, was hit by a stray bullet inside her house. She later succumbed to injuries. The injured soldiers have been flown to the army’s 92 Base Hospital in Srinagar.<br /><br />The slain army personnel have been identified as Sreejit M J, Vikas Kumar and Ghulam Muhammad Rather, while the injured include Lt Col Mukesh Jha, Major Amardeep Singh, Surendra Kumar, Sumer Singh and Ajay Pal. <br /><br />Sources said the attackers escaped from the encounter site taking advantage of the dark. “It was a well-planned ambush by the militants and a source trap can’t be ruled out,” a source said. <br /><br />“While the army had gone to hunt militants in a remote village after they received information from a source, nothing was found in the area. However, on their return, the search party was ambushed, which indicates militants had prepared in advance,” the source added.<br /></div>
