Para soldier injured in Hajin gunfight; militants escape

Srinagar, February 22

A soldier of an elite para unit of the Army was injured during an anti-militancy operation in north Kashmir’s Bandipora this morning, sources said.

The brief gunfight erupted around 5 am when a joint team of the police, CRPF and the Army launched a cordon and search operation at Paribal, Hajin, over 30 km from Srinagar, after an input about the presence of militants. “As the cordon was being laid, militants opened fired injuring a para soldier,” a police officer said. The militants, however, managed to escape after a brief exchange of fire.

Security forces later carried out a combing operation in the area to trace the militants. As the combing was underway, youth came out on roads and threw stones at security personnel engaged in the anti-militancy operation.

Security personnel fired tear-smoke shells to quell the protest. The anti-militancy operation was later called off around 10 am. — TNS