Another militant killed in Uri encounter

Majid Jahangir

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, July 4

In the ongoing operation to flush out a group of heavily armed militants close to Line of Control (LoC) in north Kashmir’s Baramulla district, another militant was shot dead by the Army today. The death toll in the encounter that began yesterday morning has increased to three, including a soldier.

An Army soldier of 8 Battalion Sikh Regiment, Harpreet Singh, resident of Abu Said Village in Ajnala, Amritsar, Punjab, was killed on Friday evening in the operation that is under progress in the Buniyar area of the Uri sector, nearly 80 km from Srinagar.

On Friday, the Army had claimed to have prevented a major attempt by a group of militants to infiltrate into Kashmir.

“As the combing operation in the vast rugged terrain was on, a contact with the hiding militants was again established around 11 am today. In the brief firefight, one more terrorist was eliminated, taking the total toll of terrorists to two,” an Army spokesman in Srinagar said.

He said three AK-47 and three rucksacks were also recovered from the site of the operation. “The operation is still in progress,” the spokesman said.

Sources said Army commandos were also involved in the combing operation and troops were ensuring that no militant managed to flee the cordon.

“The operation is going on the Line of Control and there are possibilities that a few militants might have been pushed back,” a defence source said.

The firefight started on Friday morning when an Army patrol intercepted an infiltrating group of four-five militants close to the Noori post in the Buniyar area of the Uri sector.