Srinagar, October 27
A string of grenade attacks and selective killings have left 25 persons including four members of a family, dead and 22 others, five of them security personnel, wounded in the past 24 hours, in Jammu and Kashmir, officials said today.Security forces, on their part, killed 14 terrorists, unearthed underground hideouts and averted three major tragedies in the restive state.
A report from the central Kashmir district of Badgam said one militant had so far been killed and another had been hiding in a mosque in an ongoing encounter with the security forces at Chadoora.
The area has been cordoned off, the report added. An official spokesman said unidentified gunmen entered one house at Kandola Gandoh in Doda district and shot dead its owner, his wife, 12-year-old daughter and a 15-year-old son today.
He said militants also barged into another house at Dudkot in the same district and killed two persons and wounded the house owner.
Official sources said unidentified militants hurled a hand grenade at a security force vehicle at Kaksarai in the downtown, but the bomb exploded on a roadside, wounding 16 persons, four of them seriously.
The injured have been hospitalised, the sources said.
Another hand grenade attack occurred at a security force bunker at Munwarabad, near Khayam this afternoon which left four BSF personnel injured. The area has since been cordoned off and some suspects detained for questioning.
Militants also threw a grenade inside the State Bank of India building at Dalgate targeting security forces posted there. However, no one was wounded in the blast.
A CRPF jawan was injured in a hand grenade attack by militants at Gogji Bagh this afternoon.
The spokesman said militants shot dead constable Imtiyaz
Ahmad of Jammu and Kashmir Police at Main Bazaar Pattan on the Srinagar-Baramula road today. One civilian also sustained injuries who was later hospitalised.
Militants shot dead a private school teacher, Ghulam Nabi Parray, at Kreeri in Baramula district. The spokesman said militants entered the house of a special police officer (SPO), Riyaz Ahmad Khan, at Cheepora Lolab and shot him dead.
Security forces shot dead two militants who were trying to cross over to Pakistan-occupied Kashmir in the Rajwar Chowkibal area of the north sector last night.
They also killed another militant during a search operation at Malwan Kulgam in south Kashmir. Some arms and ammunition were seized from the slain militant.
In the south Kashmir district of Anantnag, troops killed a militant at Drabihal Dooru while two others were slain during a search operation followed by a fierce clash at Kunzar Tangmarg in Baramula district this afternoon, the spokesman said. Three militants died in an encounter with a security patrol at Angan in Poonch district of Jammu region last night which also left a jawan injured.
In yet another successful operation, the spokesman added, security forces eliminated four militants of Hizbul Mujahideen at Nambla in Rajouri district. Three civilians injured in the shootout had been hospitalised. Security forces averted a major tragedy when they detected and later defused two powerful improvised explosive devices (IEDs) planted on the Srinagar-Jammu national highway near Khooni Nallah today. The spokesman said two more IEDS were detected and defused at Sheri Bibi and Gowari Gandoh in Doda district of Jammu region by security patrols.
The BSF arrested one militant, Fajidar Malik, and seized from him a remote control, four UBGLs, two rocket shells and 500 grams of explosives at Nadihal Bandipora while two others were arrested at Lasjan. The BSF during a routine patrol also unearthed a hideout and seized four rockets, four anti-tank mines, 10 remote control devices, one 60 mm mortar bomb, 20 high explosive mortar bombs, four pistols, and 279 rounds at Munigah in the frontier district of Kupwara, the spokesman added.
JAMMU (TNS): Three policemen, including a DSP, Devinder Sharma, were killed near Basohli in Kathua district on Saturday in a mine blast that wrecked the police vehicle. Five other policemen were injured in the blast. A police report said Mr Sharma, along with a team, had gone to Katli village near Basohli to inquire into a mine blast that had injured four Army personnel on Thursday. The police said as Sharma was returning from the village, his vehicle was smashed in a land mine explosion.
Additional companies have been rushed to the area to arrest or eliminate these militants who were involved in the two mine blasts. According to the police, militants had been making consistent efforts to extend subversive violence to the Hindu-dominated Kathua district which had remained peaceful as compared to other five districts in the Jammu region.
UNI
