Army soldier, militant killed in two separate gunfights in Kashmir: Police

Army soldier, militant killed in two separate gunfights in Kashmir: Police

Militant arrested alive from Baramulla encounter site, say police

Srinagar: An army soldier and a militant were among two people killed in two separate ongoing gunfights between militants and government forces, one of them in the Baramulla district in north Kashmir and another in the Kulgam district in south Kashmir.
Also, a local militant identified as Nisar Ahmad Bhat son of Mohammad Akbar Bhat resident of Shrakwara Kreeri in Baramulla was apprehended from the encounter site in Baramulla, a police official said.
The slain militant identified as Usman, a Pakistani national, according to police, was being tracked after the cordon area was extended due to dense forest area. The duo was affiliated with Lashkar-e-Toiba, it said.
While as, the other terrorist is a Foreign Pakistani terrorist namely
The slain army soldier was identified as rifleman Kulbhushan Manta, a member of the army’s 52 Rashtriya Rifles.
The Baramulla gunfight, in the Wanseeran Taripora jungle area of Sheeri in the district, started Wednesday afternoon soon after a search operation was launched by a joint team of government forces.
“We were acting on specific inputs regarding the presence of militants in the jungle area,” a senior police official from Baramulla district said, adding that the hiding militants opened indiscriminate fire as they realized they were surrounded.
In the initial firing, the official said, an army man was injured and was immediately evacuated to the hospital. “He succumbed to his injuries today,” the official said, “We however managed to nab one of the militants in the area, along with a weapon and ammunition,” the official said.
Meanwhile, the second gunfight erupted in the Astan-Marg area of Kousarnag in Kulgam district of south Kashmir.
“We had specific inputs regarding the presence of militants in the area. As the cordon was being laid, the militants opened indiscriminate fire, which was retaliated and one of the militants was killed,” a senior police official from the district said.
He said that the operation was going on and a manhunt was underway to nab other militants. “We believe there are more militants in the area,” the official said, adding that the body of the slain militant has been retrieved and will be sent to an undisclosed location in North Kashmir, following the completion of medico-legal formalities.
The authorities have refused to hand over the bodies of slain militants to their families, citing Covid protocol, since April 2020. The practice of burying militants at undisclosed locations in presence of a few family members has continued ever since. This has prevented people from holding massive funeral prayers for slain militants, wherein tens of thousands of people would normally participate.

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