Excelsior Correspondent
SRINAGAR, Oct 22: An Army personnel was killed and 2 others including Sumo driver carrying them were critically injured in a late night shoot out in the outskirts of Srinagar today.
Sources said that Army men of 35 Rashtriya Rifles traveling in a sumo bearing registration number JK04-7104 in Chattergam area of Budgam in the outskirts of Srinagar this night came under an attack from 53 RR of Army who mistook them as militants.
The army men in Sumo were asked to stop by the Army patrol of 53 RR at Chattergam village but they instead of stopping, fled forcing them to fire at the Tata Sumo. An Army jawan Ghulam Rasool died while Sumo driver Abdul Rauf and Naik Setien Roa were critically injured.
The injured were removed to 92-Base Hospital for treatment where their condition is stated to be critical.
The army has set up a new camp only last week in Chattergam to counter the growing activities of Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) who had made the area as its new base after feeling pressure in North Kashmir due to security forces operations.
Since July 7 attack on Army in nearby Pampore town on the national highway in which one army man was killed and another critically injured, Army and police is conducting massive searches operations and patrols in the area to nab LeT militants responsible for the attack on Army.
The army patrolling and area domination was intensified in this area after LeT militants who carried out attack on army convoy and later target the Silver Star hotel staff last week fled to this area.
In the meantime, another employee of hotel Silver Star succumbed to injuries today morning raising the death toll to two in the shootout. A police spokesman said that 18-year-old Anees Ahmad Wani, of Kupwara succumbed to his injuries at SMHS hospital in Srinagar.
Farooq Ahmad of Tral township, a bell boy at the hotel reception died instantly after bearing the brunt of indiscriminate firing from gunmen. Two more employees of the hotel are in hospital undergoing treatment of their wounds.
Meanwhile, Army and Police in a joint operation recovered huge cache of arms and ammunition from Handwara forests today.
While giving details, Brigadier A Arun of 7-Sector Rashtriya Rifles (RR) of army told Excelsior that the arms were recovered during the sanitization of the forest area by police and Army.
The Brigadier said that the weapons were concealed in an old tree trunk in the forest area of Darashpora. The recovered arms and ammunition include 10 AK-56 rifles, one AK-47 rifle, one-Pika Rifle, 12 RGP rounds, 12 Chinese grenades, 447 AK 47 rounds, 40 Pika rounds and 5 AK 47 magazines.
Commander 7-Sector RR said that the arms and ammunition is probably one decade old. He said that some of the weapons were wrapped in a cloth that has decayed while some was in polythene.
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