Security forces came under fire from militants hiding in the Manigah forest of Kupwara district in Kashmir on Friday, the third such incident since November 13.
A search operation is going on in the area for the past two weeks as a group of Lashkar-e-Taiba militants are holed up in mud hutments.
As the Army retaliated, loud explosions resonated in the area at Chor Nard. There was no report of any killing of the militants who had infiltrated into the Valley on October 31, before fleeing into the forest.
“Three or four militants are believed to be hiding in these dhokas [hutments]. They are firing on joint teams of the Army and the Special Operations Group. We are zeroing in on them,” said Superintendent of Police, Kupwara, Eijaz Bhat.
Manigah is a bowl-shaped valley with steep gorges and dense forest.
While moving to the plains in winter, nomads abandon their hutments, which have apparently been taken over by the militants.
On November 13, the first major gunfight erupted and the militants escaped into the forest. Colonel Santosh Mahadik, honoured with the Sena Medal in 2003 for his operation in Lolab, was killed by these militants in a fierce gunfight on November 17.
On November 10, a militant’s body was found in the area. One more militant was killed in the forest on November 23.
The inclement weather and the dense forest have forced the security forces to go slow.
