Anantnag: An unknown number of militants managed to escape, following a brief exchange of fire with government forces, late Wednesday night here in Shopian district of south Kashmir.
The military operation was launched in Imamsahib area of the district a day after unidentified gunmen shot at and injured a member of the Kashmiri Pandit community in Shopian district.
Several attacks have recently taken place targeting non-locals in south Kashmir. Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Kashmir, Vijay Kumar, had said that night patrolling will be intensified in vulnerable areas to counter such attacks.
Late Wednesday night, government forces launched a massive cordon and search operation in Haripora village of Imamsahib. “The operation was launched following specific inputs regarding the presence of militants in the area,” a senior police officer from the area said.
He said that the militants were zeroed in on by around 10:45 PM Wednesday night and were asked to lay down their arms. “They, however, fired in an indiscriminate fashion and managed to flee owing to the darkness,” the officer said.
The operation to track down the militants continued throughout the night and for the most part of the morning on Thursday, as reinforcement was rushed to the area. The militants, however, had managed to flee.
This was the second such operation in a single day. Earlier, Wednesday morning, two militants were killed in the paddy fields of Arigam village in Tral. The slain militants belonged to Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) and Ansar Ghazwat-ul-Hind (AGH), police said.
The police have maintained that the number of active militants in Kashmir is at an all-time low – way below 200. The attacks, however, have continued, mostly in south Kashmir where as many as four attacks have been carried out against non-locals since March 19.

Reader correspondent