Two jawans, 5 militants killed in Kashmir gunfight

Majid Jahangir

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, February 13

Two soldiers and five militants were killed in a fierce gunfight in north Kashmir's Kupwara district on Saturday. Two soldiers, including an officer, were also injured in the gunfight.

The gunfight started in Marsarri Chowkibal, 115 km from Srinagar, on Friday afternoon after security forces launched an operation in the village close to the Line of Control (LoC) on Friday afternoon.

The two slain soldiers killed have been identified as Naik Shinde Shankar Chandrabhan of Nashik, Maharashtra, and Gunner Sahadev Maruti of Bijapur, Karnataka.

“In the operation so far, five terrorists have been killed and two soldiers martyred. Two jawans, including an officer, were also injured," a spokesman of the Army in Srinagar said. He said the operation is in progress.

The identity of the slain jawans and militants could not be ascertained immediately.

The search operation was jointly launched by Army, police and CRPF at Marsarri village on Friday after an input about the presence of militants in the area. As searches were going on, militants hiding in a house located on the periphery of the village opened fire which was retaliated, triggering an encounter.

The house in which the militants were hiding has been destroyed in the operation.

Police had on Friday said the militants hiding in the house were active in the area and were the ones who had infiltrated recently.