Three top Lashker-e-Tayiba militants, including a self-styled divisional commander, on Tuesday gave slip to the security forces after a 20-hour gun battle in Bhaderwah town in Doda district of Jammu and Kashmir, officials said.
"No militant could be traced after search operation has been completed in Kai Mohalla in Bhaderwah tehsil, where a gun battle had been going on for 20 hours with ultras holed up at a house," they said.
The operation was called off at 1400 hours and nothing was found from the spot, they said, adding that the militants may have escaped. LeT divisional commander Abu Tallah and two other militants had come to Kai Mohalla on Monday night to hold a meeting with Lashkar and Hizbul Mujahideen cadres, officials said.
Acting on specific information, troops of 4 Rashtriya Rifles, Special Task Force, 76 Battalion of Central Reserve Police Force and police cordoned off the entire area and launched a search operation, the officials said.
As they reached near the house where the meeting was being held, the militants fired on them and a fierce gun battle ensued, the officials added.
Elsewhere in the state, a policeman was abducted while security forces unearthed a huge cache of arms and explosives and arrested a suspected militant since on Monday night, a police spokesman said on Tuesday. Militants kidnapped
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