Gunfight underway in Shopian, one militant, soldier killed

Gunfight underway in Shopian, one militant, soldier killed

Shopian: A militant and an army soldier were killed and another trooper was injured in an ongoing encounter at Wangam (Dangam- Wangam) village of Shopian on Saturday night.
The gunfight broke out around 8 pm when government forces were carrying out cordon and search operation in the village and hiding militants fired upon search party ensuing into an encounter.
“A joint operation was launched today evening based on @JmuKmrPolice inputs. Area cordoned and contact established,” said army’s official Twitter handle.
Later, it confirmed the killing of a militant and said that one M4 rifle was recovered from the gunfight site. However, identity of the slain militant was not confirmed till this report was published.
Quoting sources, a local news agency Kashmir Dot Com, said that the slain trooper belongs to 34 Rashtriya Rifles of the army. He was identified as Pinku Kumar, a resident Bagpat district of Uttar Pradesh, who had received bullet wounds earlier during the gunfight.
A cordon and search operation was launched by joint team of government forces including 34 Rashtriya Rifles of army, 178th battalion of central reserve police force and police at Ronipora village on Saturday afternoon.
Locals said that soon after the government forces withdrew from the village, they started another search operation in nearby village of Wangam.
Police sources said that the forces party was fired upon by the hiding militants at Wangam in which a militant and two army solders were injured who were removed to army’s 92 base hospital at Srinagar.
Today’s encounter was third in the month. Earlier six militants including Sajad Afghani have been killed in two separate encounters in the district.
Meanwhile mobile Internet services were also barred in the district, a hour after the gunfight broke out in the village.
The forces operation was going on when this report was being filed.

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