A militant and two army soldiers were killed in a gunfight in Samboora village of Pulwama district on Thursday, even as two other militants are believed to have escaped from the encounter site.
A senior police official said that following a “specific input” about presence of militants in Samboora, a joint team of army’s 50 Rashtriya Rifles, Central Reserve Police Force and J&K police cordoned off the area and started searches. The militants, hiding in a residential house, resorted to “indiscriminate” firing on the forces which was retaliated to, triggering a gunfight in which a militant and a soldier were killed initially, the official said.
Another soldier was killed at a later stage of the fierce gun-battle, he said.
The identity of the slain soldiers and the militant couldn’t be immediately ascertained.
A source said that the operation was called off late on Thursday night after two militants were believed to have escaped from the gun-battle site, apparently taking advantage of darkness and civilian protests around.
As the word about the gunfight spread, people from adjoining areas including Kakapora, Galander and Pampore marched towards the encounter site and clashed with the government forces, a witness said.
“The protesters tried to break the cordon to help the militants flee, but forces fired teargas shells to disperse them,” the witness added.
Locals said that sounds of big blasts were heard in the area till late Thursday night.
A group of locals said some people, including photojournalists, sustained injuries in the clashes. They said internet services were snapped across Pulwama following the gunfight.
Meanwhile, At least six Central Reserve Police Force personnel were injured when militants fired upon their vehicle in Anantnag district on Thursday morning. Militant outfits Lashkar-e-Toiba and Hizbul Mujahideen claimed the attack.
A police official said that a six-bus convoy of CRPF’s 96 battalion was on its way from Mattan to Qazigund when it was attacked by militants near Laizbal area of Anantnag town along the Khanabal-Pahalgam road, at around 8.30 am.
He said that two CRPF men received bullet injuries while four others were wounded after being hit by broken glass-panes of the vehicle.
The CRPF men who sustained bullet injuries were identified as head constable Indrajeet Singh and constable SK Mahesh and those hit by glass pieces were identified as head constable Subhash, constable Amit Kumar, constable Mukesh Sharma and constable Mudarek.
The injured were immediately moved to primary health centre Mattan where from the two with bullet injuries were referred to district hospital Anantnag.
Soon after the attack, the police, army and CRPF cordoned off the area, including nearby SK Colony and Anchidora, and launched searches to track down the assailants.
Meanwhile, Lashkar-e-Toiba and Hizbul Mujahideen claimed that its militants carried out the attack “jointly.”
Local news agency CNS quoted Hizb’s operational spokesperson Burhanuddin as saying over phone: “The deadly attack was carried out by the valiant militants of Hizb and LeT. The attack left many troopers either dead or wounded.”
LeT spokesperson Dr Abdullah Ghaznavi in an e-mailed statement said that the attack was carried out by the cadres of their outfit and “it left many troopers dead.”
