J&K encounter lasts third day,Army officer dead

“The terrain is difficult. It’s a hilly area and there are natural caves where the militants have barricaded themselves,” said Brigadier General Staff of Army’s 15 Corps,K L Chavan. “So far,five militants have been killed while two policemen and one of our officers have also died. We are yet to recover their (militant) bodies,” he said.

Brigadier Chavan identified the deceased Army officer as Lieutenant Sushil Khajuria.

He said the dead militants were part of a Lashkar-e-Toiba group that had recently infiltrated into the Valley. “We believe that two militants are still operating. It is a Lashkar group that had recently infiltrated from Keran (sector). There have been 24 infiltration attempts in this area (Keran) alone in which we have killed 26 militants,” he added.

The police and Army are yet to recover the bodies of the militants and sources say that estimates about the dead militants are based on the communication intercepts of the terrorists. The security forces are not sure about the exact strength of the militant group but believe that seven to nine persons were part of it.

The encounter started on Monday afternoon when a joint team of the Army’s 18 Grenadiers and Special Operations Group (SOG) of the police launched an operation in the mountains of Kralpora. The Army had inputs about the presence of nine militants. As the joint team of police and Army moved towards the mountains,the militants opened indiscriminate fire. In the initial assault,two SOG personnel — Shiraz Ahmad and Gulzar Ahmad — and Lieutenant Khajuria were critically wounded. The two policemen succumbed on Monday evening while the Army officer died on Tuesday night.