<div align="justify">At least 14 people, including eight policemen, were killed since Thursday evening in ambushes, clashes and encounters across the Kashmir Valley.<br /><br />Three militants and three civilians are also among the deceased. Six policemen, including a station house officer (SHO), were killed after a group of heavily armed militants ambushed their vehicle in Achabal area of south Kashmir’s Anantnag district on Friday evening, reports said.<br /><br />Sources said the militants fatally disfigured the policemen and escaped with their weapons. “All of a sudden eight to 10 militants, who had laid an ambush, opened indiscriminate fire on a passenger cab the policemen were travelling in.” <br /><br />“The attack was so intense that the policemen didn’t get time to retaliate,” a source said, adding two civilians were wounded when reinforcement reached the spot and opened fire.<br /><br />The slain SHO has been identified as sub-inspector Firoz Dar, a resident of Pulwama. The Lashkar-e-Toiba militant outfit has claimed responsibility for the attack.<br /><br />According to the police, the attack could be in retaliation to an ongoing encounter in Arwani area of Anantnag where LeT commander Junaid Mattoo was trapped in a building along with two of his associates. All the three militants are believed to be dead.<br /><br />Rs 10L bounty<br /><br />Mattoo, who carried a bounty of Rs 10 lakh on his head, was involved in a daylight attack on a police van last year, in which three policemen were killed. <br /><br />While the police and the army didn’t confirm the death of Mattoo and his associates till evening, LeT spokesman Abdullah Gaznavi, in an emailed statement to local news-gathering agency <br />KNS, paid tributes to the three militants, saying “sacrifices won’t go in vain and the pure blood of martyrs shall prove to be the death for India”.<br /><br />However, reports said no body has been recovered from the encounter site, and intermittent firing was on till late evening, indicating some militants were alive. <br /><br /><br /></div>
<div align="justify">At least 14 people, including eight policemen, were killed since Thursday evening in ambushes, clashes and encounters across the Kashmir Valley.<br /><br />Three militants and three civilians are also among the deceased. Six policemen, including a station house officer (SHO), were killed after a group of heavily armed militants ambushed their vehicle in Achabal area of south Kashmir’s Anantnag district on Friday evening, reports said.<br /><br />Sources said the militants fatally disfigured the policemen and escaped with their weapons. “All of a sudden eight to 10 militants, who had laid an ambush, opened indiscriminate fire on a passenger cab the policemen were travelling in.” <br /><br />“The attack was so intense that the policemen didn’t get time to retaliate,” a source said, adding two civilians were wounded when reinforcement reached the spot and opened fire.<br /><br />The slain SHO has been identified as sub-inspector Firoz Dar, a resident of Pulwama. The Lashkar-e-Toiba militant outfit has claimed responsibility for the attack.<br /><br />According to the police, the attack could be in retaliation to an ongoing encounter in Arwani area of Anantnag where LeT commander Junaid Mattoo was trapped in a building along with two of his associates. All the three militants are believed to be dead.<br /><br />Rs 10L bounty<br /><br />Mattoo, who carried a bounty of Rs 10 lakh on his head, was involved in a daylight attack on a police van last year, in which three policemen were killed. <br /><br />While the police and the army didn’t confirm the death of Mattoo and his associates till evening, LeT spokesman Abdullah Gaznavi, in an emailed statement to local news-gathering agency <br />KNS, paid tributes to the three militants, saying “sacrifices won’t go in vain and the pure blood of martyrs shall prove to be the death for India”.<br /><br />However, reports said no body has been recovered from the encounter site, and intermittent firing was on till late evening, indicating some militants were alive. <br /><br /><br /></div>
