<p>Security forces killed the third militant holed up in a house in south Kashmir’s Shopian district as the overnight encounter in which an Army major and a trooper lost their lives ended on Saturday morning.<br /><br /></p>.<p>The gun battle began on Friday evening after security forces surrounded Karewa Malino, 55 km from here, and launched a search operation to flush out the hiding militants.<br /><br />Police said while two militants were killed last evening, the third ultra put up a stiff resistance. “The third ultra who was hiding under the debris started firing again this morning and was killed around 9:15 am,” police said. Bodies of all three slain militants have been recovered and the operation has been called off.<br /><br />Major Mukund Varadarajan from Bangalore and sepoy Vikram also lost their lives in the operation.<br /><br />The slain militants have been identified as commander Asif Wani, category-A militant, Shabir Gorsi and Abdul Haq, both category-B militants. “Wani was active in the area since last three years, while Abdul Haq was involved in the killing of a policeman in Bijbehra area of south Kashmir last year,” a police officer told Deccan Herald.<br /><br />He said the slain ultras were locals and belonged to the Hizb-ul-Mujahideen. “We have reports that the slain militants were planning to carry out a fidayeen attack on an Army camp in Karewa Malino which is just 500 meters away from the encounter site,” he claimed.<br /><br />Deputy Inspector General of Police (South Kashmir) Vijay Kumar dismissed reports that the slain militants were responsible for the attack on an election party on Thursday evening in which one polling officer was killed while five others, including three security personnel, were injured. “The attack on polling party was carried out by the Lashkar-e-Toiba militants and the ultras killed in the encounter are from Hizb-ul-Mujahideen,” he told reporters.<br /><br />Shopian is part of the Anantnag Parliamentary constituency which went for polls on Thursday.</p>
<p>Security forces killed the third militant holed up in a house in south Kashmir’s Shopian district as the overnight encounter in which an Army major and a trooper lost their lives ended on Saturday morning.<br /><br /></p>.<p>The gun battle began on Friday evening after security forces surrounded Karewa Malino, 55 km from here, and launched a search operation to flush out the hiding militants.<br /><br />Police said while two militants were killed last evening, the third ultra put up a stiff resistance. “The third ultra who was hiding under the debris started firing again this morning and was killed around 9:15 am,” police said. Bodies of all three slain militants have been recovered and the operation has been called off.<br /><br />Major Mukund Varadarajan from Bangalore and sepoy Vikram also lost their lives in the operation.<br /><br />The slain militants have been identified as commander Asif Wani, category-A militant, Shabir Gorsi and Abdul Haq, both category-B militants. “Wani was active in the area since last three years, while Abdul Haq was involved in the killing of a policeman in Bijbehra area of south Kashmir last year,” a police officer told Deccan Herald.<br /><br />He said the slain ultras were locals and belonged to the Hizb-ul-Mujahideen. “We have reports that the slain militants were planning to carry out a fidayeen attack on an Army camp in Karewa Malino which is just 500 meters away from the encounter site,” he claimed.<br /><br />Deputy Inspector General of Police (South Kashmir) Vijay Kumar dismissed reports that the slain militants were responsible for the attack on an election party on Thursday evening in which one polling officer was killed while five others, including three security personnel, were injured. “The attack on polling party was carried out by the Lashkar-e-Toiba militants and the ultras killed in the encounter are from Hizb-ul-Mujahideen,” he told reporters.<br /><br />Shopian is part of the Anantnag Parliamentary constituency which went for polls on Thursday.</p>
