Day after killing Jaish commander, forces gun down four militants in Kashmir

Four unidentified militants were killed in an early morning encounter with security forces in south Kashmir's Shopian district on Saturday.

The encounter broke out after a joint team of Army’s 62 Rashtriya Rifles and J&K police launched a cordon-and-search-operation in Amshipora village of Shopian, 55 kms from here, on a ‘specific information’ about the presence of militants in the area.

As a joint search team of forces approached the suspected area, the hiding militants fired upon them and in the retaliatory action by the forces four militants were killed, a police official said.

However, the identity and the group affiliation of the slain militants was not known immediately.

The latest encounter came a day after the killing of three militants, including a Jaish-e-Mohammed commander believed to be an IED expert, in neighboring Kulgam district. IGP Kashmir, Vijay Kumar, termed the killing of the Jaish commander as a big success for forces.

More than 130 militants have been killed in different operations across Jammu and Kashmir this year. Those killed include top commanders of Hizb-ul-Mujahideen, Lashker-e-Toiba and the Jaish.

In June only 48 militants were killed, most of them in the four districts of south Kashmir, during various encounters with security forces.