J&K: 4 terrorists, 1 jawan killed in gunbattle

Security personnel killed four top terrorists of Pakistan-based Lashker-e-Tayiba but lost one army jawan in a day-long fierce gunbattle in the border district of Kupwara in north Kashmir on Friday.

The police had received an intelligence input that a group of five Lashker terrorists had sneaked into a house at village Maidanpora in Lolab, 120 kms from Srinagar, after moving out of Sopore town where they had carried out an attack on a police station on July five killing one policeman.

"A search and cordon operation was launched in the wee hours on Friday in which police was assisted by 18 Rashtriya Rifles personnel. An operation was launched after a woman who was trapped inside a house could come out to safety," a police spokesman said.

In the day-long encounter that followed, he said four top Lashker terrorists were killed while the body of the fifth was believed to be buried under the debris.

One army jawan identified as Nayak Sumer Singh from Nagaur district of Rajasthan was killed while another received a bullet injury in his stomach, he said. Besides this, four others including an army captain received minor injuries in the operation.

The body of Singh was likely to be taken to his hometown on Saturday, S D Goswami, defence spokesperson, said in Jodhpur. The encounter broke out this morning when a joint search party of army and police came under fire from a house, Senior Superintendent of police V K Birdi said.

He said the house was cordoned off by the joint party of Special Operations Group, local police and 18 Rashtriya Rifles after getting specific information about presence of a group of terrorists affiliated with Lashker including self-styled divisional commander Abu Saqib and district commander Abu Hamaad.

There was no immediate exchange of fire between the two sides as security forces wanted to ensure that all civilians were out of the building before the operation was launched, he said.

While the menfolk had come out of the building this morning, the wife of the house owner and his daughter were trapped inside for more than an hour, officials said, adding the girl came out first from the house followed by her mother half-an-hour later.

Security forces engaged the terrorists after the two came out safely and killed the holed up terrorists, Birdi said.

He said the house where the terrorists had taken shelter was damaged during the encounter and efforts are on to retrieve the bodies of the slain terrorists.

"Once the debris is cleared, the exact toll will emerge," he said.

Graphic: KBK