Srinagar, October 3
A top commander of the Hizbul Mujahideen (HM) was among two militants killed and a CRPF officer injured while a numbardar and his family escaped unhurt in an attack in Jammu and Kashmir overnight.

The security forces unearthed a hideout and seized a huge cache of arms and ammunition in the valley.

An official spokesman said 89 battalion of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and the Special Operations Group (SOG) of the Jammu and Kashmir Police launched a joint operation at Boru Chadoora village in Badgam district late last night following a tip-off that militants were hiding there.

However, when the security forces were about to storm a particular house, they came under heavy fire from militants. The fire was returned and in the night-long operation two militants were killed.

He said the slain militants were identified as Mohammad Ashraf Ganie, alias Bilal, district commander of the HM, and Naseer Ahmad Wani, alias Zubair.

The spokesman said CRPF Inspector R.D. Sharma and constable Balwant Singh were injured in the shootout.

Sources said militants hurled two hand grenades and resorted to firing towards the house of numbardar Mohammad Amin Reshi at Tangmarg in north Kashmir last night. However, the grenades did not explode and were later defused by a bomb disposal squad.

Two vehicles of Mr Reshi were damaged in the firing, they said. Mr Reshi and his family members escaped unhurt in the attack.

A Defence Ministry spokesman said that troops, along with the state police, launched a joint operation near Haphurda in Kupwara district.

After a long search of the area, the column hit upon a huge cache of arms and ammunition buried under the ground, he said. — UNI

Jammu, October 3
Two persons were arrested after a minor gave birth to a child in Poonch district even as the incident triggered protests by residents today, officials said.

The accused, Khalid Hussain and Gulam Mohmmad, were booked under Section 376 of the Ranbir Panel Code (RPC) after a student Class IX of Jawahar Navodya Vidhyalaya gave birth to a child in Surankote last night.

The girl was rushed to a hospital last night where the doctors attending on her informed accompanying teachers and students that she was pregnant, officials said.

The minor was sent to her father’s house in Hardi village after she delivered the baby, they added.

Residents of Surankote staged a demonstration, demanding arrest of the accused.

Defending the school staff, school Principal Z I Quershi said no one, including the minor, had lodged any complaint.

School authorities learnt of the incident only yesterday, Qureshi said. — PTI