Three soldiers, militant killed in LoC gunfight

Azhar Qadri

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, May 25

Three soldiers and a militant were killed in a firefight today near the Line of Control (LoC) in north Kashmir’s frontier Kupwara district. The Army said it had neutralised an attempt by a group of militants to infiltrate into the Kashmir valley.

The Army said four of its soldiers who were part of a forward battalion sustained injuries in the gunfight in the remote Tangdhar sector of Kupwara district. Of them, three succumbed to their injuries. The fourth injured soldier is out of danger, the Army said in a statement here. The identities of the slain soldiers could not be immediately confirmed. It was one of the most deadliest firefights along the LoC in north Kashmir in recent months.

The firefight started when an Army patrol led by a Junior Commissioner Officer (JCO) intercepted an infiltrating group of militants in the northern part of the Tangdhar sector, Army sources said. In the ensuing exchange of gunfire, the Army said it succeeded in pushing the militants back across the LoC while the body of one militant was recovered from the site of the encounter. 

One AK-47 assault rifle, one pistol and “other administrative items” have also been recovered from the site, the Army said.