Three militants killed in Kashmir

As the search operation was going on, hiding militants fired upon the forces triggering an encounter.

Three suspected militants were killed and three others arrested in two separate operations in the Kashmir Valley on Thursday even as protests gripped Pulwama district following an exchange of fire between militants and security forces.

According to a Srinagar-based Army spokesman, three suspected militants were killed in the Lolab area of Kupwara, around 90 km north of Srinagar, in an encounter that started early in the morning.

“An operation was launched following reports of the presence of terrorists in Putsai Village in Lolab. A heavy volume of indiscriminate firing was opened by the terrorists. In the encounter, three terrorists were killed,” the spokesman said.

The Army said the terrorists have not been identified yet. A huge cache of arms and ammunition, including three AK 47 rifles and three Under Barrel Grenade Launchers, besides other war-like stores, were recovered from the terrorists.

Wanted in grenade attack

In Srinagar, police sources said three Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) militants were arrested near a footbridge early in the morning. The police identified one of the militants as Ubaid, who was wanted in a grenade attack case in Sopore. In south Kashmir’s Pulwama district, a police party came under fire from some militants. “The militants opened fire in the Malwari area,” said Pulwama Superintendent of Police Muhammad Rayees Bhat.

Protests broke out in the Newa area of Pulwama when a search operation was launched against militants. The police said these protests were aimed at “providing cover to the militants to escape from the area”.

Meanwhile, in a separate operation in Zudur, Pulwama, the Army recovered a cache of warlike stores, including ammunition and grenades.