Days after the J&K Police announced a cash reward for information on Lashkar-e-Toiba’s Kashmir chief Bilal who is believed to be hiding in the mountains of Bandipore, militants killed a Lt Colonel today in a fierce firefight in the main market of this north Kashmir town.

A militant and two other men were also killed. The Army said the three were militants but local residents contested the claim, saying two of the bodies were those of a shopkeeper and his salesman who had accompanied Lt Colonel V R Chouhan during a search operation.

While the fighting raged in the market, the Army was engaging infiltrators in the mountains above. Eight heavily armed militants, trying to sneak in through the Keran sector, were killed in the encounter.

Kilo Force GOC Maj Gen N K Singh said that the Army had received specific information about the presence of militants in a shopping-cum-housing complex in Bandipore’s Nowpora locality.

“Lt Col Chauhan along with a jawan went into the complex, searching each floor. The officer found nothing and returned. On a hunch, he and BSF officers again moved to the third floor and found a false ceiling. The officer (Lt Col Chouhan) began breaking the ceiling. The militants who were hiding inside the room started firing. The officer, before succumbing to his injuries, managed to kill two of the militants,” said Maj Gen Singh.

According to the GOC, a militant threw a grenade and the building caught fire. “After searching the rooms, three charred bodies along with three AK rifles were recovered. A BSF soldier also sustained injuries.”