Shopian: Three militants were killed at Cheki-Choland village in Shopian district in a 12-hour-long gunfight with government forces.
The encounter in the village broke out on Wednesday morning after government forces began a cordon and search operation based on “inputs about the presence of a group in militants”, police said.
Cheki-Choland village is situated some 17 kilometers from the district headquarters of Shopian.
Villagers said that a joint team of government forces including 34 Rashtriya Rifles of army, Jammu and Kashmir Police, and Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) arrived in the village at about 6am and soon started door-to-door searches in the village.
They said that contact with militants was established at about 7am with an intense exchange of gunfire with the militants who had taken shelter in a residential house.
Police sources here identified the slain militants as Amir Manzoor of Cheki-Choland village, Haseeb Ahamd of Redwani Kulgam, and Rayess Ahamd of Kapren village in district Shopian.
At 11am, a police spokesman said that a militant was killed while two more were trapped. Later, at 5pm, police announced the killing of two more militants belonging to Lashkar-e-Toiba outfit.
At least one residential house was destroyed during this encounter. The government forces were carrying out searches around the gunfight site when this report was being filed.

Raashid Hassan