3 Lashkar militants killed in Kupwara encounter

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, April 21

Three militants of the Lashkar-e-Toiba were killed in the nearly seven-hour-long gunfight in north Kashmir’s frontier Kupwara district on Thursday.

The fierce gunfight broke in the wee hours at Patushai Lolab village, nearly 110 km from here on the Kupwara Sogam road, when the Army and J&K Police zeroed in on a house where militants were hiding.

“We received an input about the presence of militants in the area late last evening after which a joint operation was launched by the Army and the police. As searches were going on, the militants holed up in a house opened fire in the wee hours, triggering a seven-hour-long gunfight in which three Lashkar militants were killed,” said Senior Superintendent of Police, Kupwara, Ajaz Ahmad Bhat.

“Out of the three militants hiding in the house, two were killed while they were trying to break the cordon.”

Three AK rifles, three under barrel grenade launchers and ammunition was recovered from the slain militants. The identity of the militants is yet to be established.

The house in which the militants were hiding and a cowshed were damaged during the gunfight.

The SSP said it could not be ascertained whether the slain militants had infiltrated recently or were active in the area. A defence spokesman in Srinagar said the security forces gave a very “calibrated response” due to the presence of civilians in the house.