J&K: Gunfight breaks out in Shopian; 3 Hizbul militants trapped
Sources said the militants opened fire on the search party, triggering the encounter which is underway.
Srinagar: Gunfight broke out between a group of militants and the security forces in Awneera village of Jammu and Kashmir’s southern Shopian district on Saturday evening.
The police sources said two to three Hibz-ul-Mujahedin militants were trapped in the area after the troops of the Army’s 55 Rashtriya Rifles, the Jammu and Kashmir police’s counter insurgency Special Operations Group (SOG) and the CRPF laid siege to it.
“The militants opened fire on the search party, triggering the encounter which is underway,” the sources said.
On Friday night, the militants attacked the Army’s 42 Rashtriya Rifles headquarters in the forest area of Kalaroos in north-western Kupwara district, injuring a soldier, the officials said. The Army quickly launched a search operation in the area but no arrests were made, the police sources said.
Meanwhile, clashes erupted in Trichal village of southern Pulwama district on Saturday after the security forces arrived there to launch a cordon-and-search operation against the militants reportedly hiding in the village.
The witnesses said on seeing the security personnel, the residents, mainly youth, came out to hurl rocks at them.
Earlier, a search operation was launched by the security forces in Noorabad village of Pulwama’s Tral area but the militants hiding in there managed to escape under the cover of darkness, the sources said.
The sources said the cordon-and-search operation was launched following inputs about the presence of militants including Zakir Rashid Bhat alias Zakir Musa, the head of ‘Ansar Ghazwat-ul-Hind’, the Al-Qaida’s India cell.