Security forces on Wednesday began searching for bodies of militants believed to have been killed and buried under the debris of the houses that were destroyed in the fierce gunbattle in Sopore.
The operation to retrieve the bodies of the militants, who were said to have been killed in the day-long gunbattle on Tuesday, resumed on Wednesday morning, official sources said.
Three Armymen, including a captain, were killed in the gunbattle with the militants hiding in two houses at Chinkipora, 55 km from here, on Tuesday.
The deceased Army personnel were identified as Captain Davinder Singh Jass, Naik Selva Kumar and paratrooper Imtiyaz Ahmad Thokar of first Para.
Besides, a civilian identified as Ramiz Ahmad Malla, who was hit by a stray bullet while being evacuated from the scene, is being treated at a hospital in Srinagar.
The gunbattle had started on Monday night when security forces got information about the presence of Lashker-e-Taiba, Hizbul Mujahideen and Harkat-ul-Mujahideen terrorists in Chinkipura, a heavily congested area of Sopore town.
The militants suspected to have been killed included Bhasharat of Hizbul Mujahideen and Noman and Hamza of Harkat-ul-Mujahideen, Sallahuddin of Lashker-e-Taiba and a local militant Tauseef Mir.
