Four Militants, Two Soldiers Killed in Kashmir

By Fayaz Wani

Srinagar, Nov 17: Four militants and two soldiers were killed in two separate encounters in restive Kashmir on Monday.

Police sources said that army personnel intercepted a group of militants at Lachipora, near the Line of Control (LoC), some 40 kms from Baramulla in North Kashmir on Monday. "The militants were asked to lay down the weapons. They turned down the offer and fired from automatic weapons towards the troopers. The fire was returned and in the ensuing gunfight, which lasted for eight hours, four militants and an army soldier were killed," they said.

One of the slain militants was identified as Maqsood Ahmad while the identity of the other slain militants was being ascertained.

Meanwhile, a heavily armed group of militants fired sophisticated weapons towards an army search party at Beri forests, Mendhar in the mountainous Poonch region of Kashmir on Monday. "The fire was returned by the soldiers and in the ensuing gunfight, a soldier was killed," police sources said.

They said that after the gunfight militants abducted two soldiers. "However, one of them managed to escape from the militant captivity," they said.

Sources said that Indian army has launched a massive combing and search operation in the area to flush out the militants and track down the soldier abducted by them.

Fayaz Wani reports on life in Srinagar, Kashmir.