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5 Soldiers Killed in White Kashmir

By Fayaz Wani

Srinagar, Jan 29: At least five Indian soldiers were killed in three separate incidents in the Indian administered Kashmir, which has been draped in white after experiencing snowfall on Friday.

An Indian army spokesman said a heavily armed group of militants ambushed a search party of soldiers at Tandar village in the mountainous Kishtwar region of Kashmir.

"On specific information about the presence of militants, army men laid siege around the area on Thursday evening to flush out the hiding militants. While the combing operation was going on, militants fired from automatic weapons towards the soldiers. The fire was returned by the soldiers, triggering an encounter, which continued till Friday morning," he said.

He said two soldiers identified as Lance Naik Jagdish and Sepoy Raj Kumar received critical bullet injuries in the gunfight and succumbed to injuries in the hospital.

"In the morning, it started snowing heavily. Taking advantage of snowfall, militants managed to escape from the area," he said.

The spokesman, however, said that the combing operation in the area was going on despite bad weather conditions.

Meanwhile, a snow avalanche struck an army post at the mountainous Ladakh region of Kashmir on Friday evening.

"A snow avalanche hit army's Khardungla post in Ladakh on Friday afternoon. Two army men JCO Mira Singh and Lance Naik M S Maheske stationed in the post were buried alive by the snow avalanche," said an army spokesman.

He said bodies of two soldiers were later extracted from the snow. Three other soldiers were said to have been injured in the incident.

In another incident, an army vehicle slipped off the road at army's Baraf Post in North Kashmir's Kupwara district, causing death of driver Sepoy S K Yadav.

Meanwhile, Srinagar, the summer capital of the Indian administered Kashmir experienced season's first snowfall on Friday, bringing an end to the dry-spell. People in Kashmir had offered special prayers for rains and snowfall.

The snowfall has disconnected Kashmir from the rest of the world. The 296-kms long Srinagar-Jammu highway, only road link connecting Kashmir with rest of world was closed for all sorts of vehicular traffic after the snowfall.

Fayaz Wani reports on life in Srinagar, Kashmir.