JOIN USTwo soldiers, militant killed in Kashmir’s Shopian
Two soldiers and a militant affiliated with Lashker-e-Toiba (LeT outfit were killed in an encounter between security forces and ultras in south Kashmir’s Shopian district on Saturday.
A police official said the gun battle erupted after army’s 1-Rashtriya Rifles and J&K police a cordon-and-search-operation (CASO) in Chermarg, Zainpora in Shopian, 60 kms from, here, during wee hours of Saturday following a tip-off about the presence of ultras there.
As the security forces were conducting searches in the area, the hiding militants fired upon them in which two soldiers were injured, he said and added the injured soldiers later succumbed to their injuries. The deceased soldiers were identified as Santosh Yadav and Chavan Romit Tanaji, from the 1-Rashtriya Rifles.
The hiding militant was killed in the retaliatory firing by the security forces, police said and identified him as Abdul Qayoom Dar, a local affiliated with the LeT.
“The house owner, who misled search party of security forces, was arrested in a terror law for providing shelter to militant and misleading security forces,” a police spokesperson said.
24 militants, including eight from Pakistan, have been killed in Kashmir this year in over a dozen encounters while last year 171 ultras were neutralized.
According to police figures, 156 ultras, including 73 foreigners, were active in Kashmir on December 31. This is for the first time that the number of active militants in the Valley has come down to less than 200 since the insurgency erupted in Kashmir in 1990.
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