M A I N   N E W S

Sessions Judge shot dead
19 CRPF jawans hurt in blast

Jammu, December 5
Unidentified militants today gunned down a judge, his friend and two PSOs in an ambush in Rajouri district, around 200 km from here, in Jammu and Kashmir.

Vijay Kumar Phool, his friend, whose identity could not be established immediately, and the PSOs were killed on the spot when unspecified number of militants ambushed their vehicle at Dera Gali at around 11.45 a.m. when the Session Judge of Rajouri was on his way to his residence in Poonch.

Senior police officials have rushed to the spot and a hunt has been launched to arrest the culprits.

Elsewhere, 19 (according to UNI 27) Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel were injured, three of them seriously, in an IED explosion triggered by militants when a convoy of their vehicles was passing through the Ramban-Batote road near Assar, 140 km from here today, official sources said.

Two CRPF vehicles were blown up in the blast, caused by an Improvised Explosive Device (IED), injuring 19 personnel, the sources said.

The seriously injured personnel have been admitted to Udhampur Military Hospital.

The convoy was on its way to Jammu from Kishtwar.

SRINAGAR: Five persons, including three militants and an Assistant Executive Engineer (AEE), were killed in separate incidents, while a militant was arrested in Kashmir valley since Tuesday night, a police spokesman said on Wednesday.

He said three militants, one of whom was identified as Mohammad Iqbal of Pakistan-based Lashker-e-Toiba outfit, were killed in an encounter with security forces at Hangalgund in south Kashmir on Tuesday.

Iqbal hailed from the Rawalpindi area, the spokesman said, adding that the identity of the other two militants was being ascertained.

Assistant Executive Engineer, Farooq Ahmad Mir, who was shot at and critically wounded by militants at Duroo in Anantnag on Tuesday succumbed to his injuries on Wednesday, the spokesman said.

Militants shot dead Nabir Sheikh at his village at Munghama in Pulwama district of south Kashmir on Wednesday the spokesman said. PTI