Anantnag: Three army soldiers and a civilian was injured in a gunfight between militants and government forces in Anantnag district of South Kashmir late Thursday evening, the police said
The gunfight was going on in Rishipora area of Kapran, here in Verinag of South Kashmir’s Anant- nag district.
“In the initial exchange of fire, three army personnel & one civilian got injured. All the injured were immediately airlifted to 92 base hospital #Srinagar for treatment & are stated to be stable,” police said.
“Encounter has started in Verinag area of Anantnag,” a police spokesperson said, quoting Inspector General of Police (IGP), Vijay Kumar. There were no further updates on the gunfight by police while this report was being filed, late Thursday evening.
A senior police official from the area said that there were specific inputs regarding the presence of militants in the area, following which a cordon and search operation was launched.
“Contact was established with the hiding militants and they were asked to surrender, but they chose to fire indiscriminately,” the official said.
He said that further reinforcement has been rushed to the spot and the cordon has been tightened, as the exchange of fire has continued intermittently.
“We believe two to three militants are holed up in the area. Efforts are on to neutralise them,” the official said.
Local sources told Kashmir Reader that lights have been installed in the area, as the exchange of fire continued.
This is the first gunfight in the current month, even as the last week or so of May has been seriously violent. More than 16 militants and a policeman were killed in around 6 gunfights between May 25 and May 31.

Suhail A Shah