Handwara operations toll 5
Fayaz Bukhari
SRINAGAR, July 6: Two militants were killed and four security force personnel injured in a fierce encounter in Handwara forests where the number of dead militants for past one week has gone up to 5.
One body was recovered so far from the debris of three houses and two cow sheds where these militants were holed up. Body of another militant is buried under the rubble and security forces are clearing the rubble to recover it.
Srinagar based Defence spokesman, Lt. Col J S Brar said that Army and police launched a joint operation after security forces received information about the presence of heavily armed militants in the Bawan village of Handwara last evening. During the search operation, security forces established contact with the militants resulting in a fierce encounter last night, he added.
Lt Col Brar said that one unidentified militant, likely to be a foreigner, was killed. He said two houses suffered damages during the operation as they were used by the militants as shelters adding that militants resorted to heavy firing while hiding in the two houses.
Reports reaching here from Handwara, however, said that so far body of an unidentified foreign militant was recovered from the debris while another is still buried under rubble. One AK rifle, one Global Positioning System, one map sheet and a large quantity of ammunition have been recovered from the debris so far.
Three houses of Mohammad Ramzan Mir, Saidi Begam, Ghulam Rasool Bhat and two cow sheds were raised to rubble during the encounter. The two militants were hiding in these houses and were shifting their positions from one house to another house. Security forces used heavy weapons to eliminate the two militants resulting in damage to 5 structures.
A police spokesman while giving details about the encounter said here this evening that Handwara Police, 21-RR and 6-RR launched a joint operation in the village Bawan-Wathsar, Handwara in border district of Kupwara in which one militant was killed and a police man was injured. The injured head constable has been identified as Sher Khan No. 876/AP 7th Battalion.
The injured head constable who had multiple fractures in both thighs and hands was immediately evacuated by an Army Helicopter to the Base Hospital of Army at Badami Bagh Cantonment in Srinagar.
During past week, three militants were killed in nearby Bangus valley forests of Handwara in the frontier district of Kupwara taking the toll of killed militants to 5. The operation in Bangas was launched last week.
Sources said that a large group of highly trained militants has managed to infiltrate into the forests of the frontier district of Kupwara during past two months. These militants are trying to come into the hinter land but the security forces have maintained pressure on them to confine them to forests only, they added.
Security agencies said that 500 militants are waiting on launching pads on the other side of the Line of Control (LoC) in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir’s Neelam valley that borders Kashmir’s Kupwara district. They said majority of them have returned to launch pads after unsuccessful bids of infiltration by them.
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