JK: 3 militants killed in encounter with security

Three militants, including a self-styled commander of Jaish-e-Mohammed, were killed, while an  army officer was wounded in a fierce gunfight that lasted about 20 hours in south Kashmir's Bongam Hajan village in Pulwama district. Saturday's encounter came three days after the powerful booby trap blast in north Kashmir's Sopore town that left nine cops wounded.

The gunfight began on Friday evening after troops of Rashtriya Rifles and police jointly surrounded a house in the village on specific information about presence of a group of Jaish-e-Mohammed militants.

"The cordon and search operation led to the encounters," a police spokesman said. "The hostile firing has stopped. We have so far recovered two bodies while search is on for the body of the third militant," a senior army officer told reporters at the scene of the encounter on Saturday. Army troops and Special Operations Group of the police launched a search operation in village Bonhajin in Rajpora area of Pulwama on Friday evening, the officer said.

A senior police officer said another militant has also been killed and added 'the body is yet to recovered as firing exchanges are still continuing'.  

The house where the militants were hiding was cordoned off and the ultras were asked to surrender. "The militants opened fire on the security forces but we did not retaliate till all the civilians had moved to safety," he said. The officer said an assault was launched on the house where the ultras were hiding and one of them was killed on Friday evening.

"The operation was halted for the night but the cordon was tightened to prevent the militants from escaping. In the morning, we launched a fresh offensive and another militant was killed," he said. The officer said the slain militant was a top commander of Jaish-e-Mohammad and identified as Ehsan Bhai, a resident of Pakistan.

Ehsan was active in Kashmir for over a decade and involved in many attacks on civilians, security forces and political activists. The other two militants were identified as Javid Nengroo and Farooq Ahmad Lone, both residents of Pulwama district.

He said searches were going on at the scene of the gun battle and security forces were expecting to find another body of the militant. An army major also suffered minor injuries in the operation, he added.

With inputs from PTI