Four Jawans killed in encounter

SRINAGAR, Aug 3 (UNI, PTI) — Five foreign militants and four security jawans were among 10 persons killed while the security forces captured four ultras in Jammu and Kashmir during the past 24 hours.

An official spokesman said an encounter took place between militants and security personnel at Dhundak Phagla early this morning during a search operation. "In the fierce clash which continued for several hours, four militants were killed. An equal number of jawans lost their lives while three of their colleagues were seriously injured. Three civilians also suffered injuries during the shootout," he said.

The Security forces gunned down a militant, reportedly a foreigner, in a fierce encounter at Khrud Bhagwah last evening. An assault rifle, two magazines, three grenades and a wireless set were recovered from him.

Ultras abducted a surrendered militant, Mushtaq Ahmad Magray, from Zaloora Sopore. Militants attacked security personnel with hand grenades and automatic weapons at Chanapora, Nawabazar and Kokernag last evening. None was hurt.

The Security forces captured four militants and recovered a large cache of arms and ammunition, including four rifles, two pistols, 700 rounds, two wireless sets, a universal machine gun, a rocket launcher with nine rockets, a pistol magazine and a binocular in the valley during overnight operations.

Militants armed with sophisticated weapons opened indiscriminate fire on the house of Wali Mohammad Wani, a senior Awami league leader, at Heel Jagir in Baramulla district. Police guards posted at the house of the counter-insurgent-turned-politician, returned the fire and repulsed the attack.

The BSF recovered a big haul of weapons after a brief encounter with militants who had plans to sneak into South Kashmir through the Peer Panchal range and engineer large-scale violence on Independence Day, a senior BSF officer said.

The encounter took place at Jamia Wali Gali in Pulwama district when BSF troops noticed heavily-armed militants who on being challenged, opened fire.

Militants escaped into the nearby forests, leaving behind a big cache of weapons.

Jammu: An Army jawan was killed in unprovoked firing by Pakistani troops along the Line of Control (LoC) in Noushera sector of Rajouri district in Jammu division on Monday night.

Reports said Rifleman Dinesh Kumar of 14 Garhwal was killed at the Rumliadaga forward post in the sector when hit by bullets from across the border.

Intermittent firing between Indian and Pakistani troops was continuing along the LoC at Bhawani and Laam areas of Noushera sector.

11 pilgrims hurt in accident near Ramban

JAMMU, Aug 3 (PTI) — Eleven Amarnath pilgrims were injured today when a Matador carrying them collided with a truck near Ramban on the Jammu-Srinagar National Highway, the police said here.

The van, which was on its way from Srinagar to Jammu and carrying the pilgrims back after the "darshan" at the holy cave, collided with the truck coming from the opposite direction at Mavar Curve near Ramban, 149 km from here, a police spokesman said.

The truck rolled down into the Chenab river. The injured have been admitted to the Ramban hospital.

Meanwhile, the ninth batch of 6,000 pilgrims from different parts of the country today left this temple city for onward journey to Pahalgam, base camp to the holy cave shrine of Amarnath in Kashmir Himalayas.

These pilgrims will trek 46 km from Pahalgam via Chandanwari, Pissu Top, Sheshnag, Poshpathri, Mahaganus Top and Panjtarni to reach the shrine at an altitude of 3,888 metres in the next few days.

Officials manning the yatra said here a larger number of pilgrims were accommodated in today's fleet of 352 vehicles as the pilgrimage had to be suspended twice during the past four days due to bad weather conditions.

More than 2,000 pilgrims are stranded on the Highway, about 15 km from Udhampur, due to landslides at Samroli.