Three militants, including a Pakistani ‘commander’ of Lashkar-e-Taiba, are trapped in their hideout as a fierce gunfight broke out in Shopian area of South Kashmir on Friday afternoon.
Informed sources said that troops from a unit of Rashtriya Rifles 44th battalion along with Special Operations Group of Shopian District Police launched a cordon-and-search operation at Karewa Manlu, 45 km from Srinagar, on specific information. According to the information available with the Army, two Hizbul Mujahideen and one Lashkar-e-Taiba militant are trapped in their hideout.
Deputy Inspector-General of Police in South Kashmir Vijay Kumar confirmed to The Hindu that the gunfight broke out at about 3.15 p.m. as soon as the SOG and the Army cordoned the locality on a hillock. “We have laid a tight cordon and there’s no possibility of the holed up militants’ escape”, Mr. Kumar said.
He said there was a possibility that the holed up militants were from >the group that attacked a polling party at Nagbal in Shopian area on Thursday evening when the Electronic Voting Machines were being carried to the district headquarters under heavy security after polling in the Anantnag-Pulwama constituency. One polling officer was killed and five others were injured. All the militants fled the scene.
