An Army jawan was killed and another critically injured in a brief gunbattle with militants as the search operation by security forces continued in the forests of the frontier district of Kupwara in north Kashmir for the fourth day on Wednesday, official sources said.
A jawan was killed and another critically injured when militants opened fire on a joint search party of the Army and police at Khamri forest of Hafrada, 125 kms from here, in the wee hours on Wednesday, the sources said.
The search party fired back but the ultras fled the scene after the brief gunbattle, taking advantage of the thick forest and the darkness, they said, adding, a massive search operation to track down the fleeing militants was going on when last reports were received.
Meanwhile, body of one more militant was recovered from the scene of Tuesday’s gunbattle in nearby Sajipora forest raising the death toll in the encounter to four.
Two militants and an Army jawan were killed in the day-long gunbattle on Tuesday.
All the three militants have been identified as members of Hizbul Mujahideen outfit namely Karim Katrai of Kupwara, Nayeem Ahmad Bhat of Anantnag and Najeeb Rashid of Kulgam, the sources said adding the bodies of the deceased were handed over to their next of kins for last rites on Wednesday afternoon.
Two Pakistani militants were killed by security forces in an encounter at Shah Nagri forest of Handwara on Saturday, the day security forces launched a massive search operation following information about presence of heavily-armed militants of Hizbul Mujahideen and Lashker-e-Taiba outfits.
