Three unidentified militants killed in Kashmir’s Kulgam

Three unidentified militants were killed by security forces in an encounter which broke out in south Kashmir’s Kulgam district on Monday morning.

The police, however, said that the body of one militant has been recovered so far and the operation was going on. “Only 01 dead body recovered so far from the site of #encounter. Search is going on. Further details shall follow (sic),” J&K police tweeted.

Reports said the encounter erupted after a patrol party of the Army, Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and Jammu and Kashmir Police was attacked in Lowermunda, Qazigund, in Kulgam, 85 km from here.

The patrol party had gone to the village after receiving ‘specific inputs’ about a group of militants hiding in the area. “The security forces had cordoned a cluster of houses and as they launched a search operation in the morning, they came under heavy firing from a house where the militants were hiding,” sources said.

It was the second encounter in Kulgam district within the space of a few hours. Four militants were killed in an encounter with security forces at Ashtal village in Kulgam on Sunday evening.

In the last one week, six encounters have been reported in south Kashmir in which 17 local militants and one of their associates were killed. Over 60 militants, including several top commanders of Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) and Lashker-e-Toiba (LeT) have been killed in counter-insurgency operations by security forces in Jammu and Kashmir this year so far.

April witnessed the highest number of militant casualties with 30 ultras killed so far. All the bodies of local militants in recent days were taken by police either to north Kashmir or central Kashmir’s Sonamarg for burial as part of a new strategy to avoid huge gatherings at funerals.