Srinagar, Sept 29: The 4-day long gunfight between Indian soldiers and heavily armed militants ended in Indian administered Kashmir on Thursday.
A police spokesman said the encounter in Kupwara in North Kashmir has ended this evening.
“The death toll in the four-day long encounter stands at 9 with killing of another soldiers last evening. His body was retrieved from the encounter site in Shamasbari area of Kupwara. Among the dead include five militants, two army men and two policemen,” senior army commander Lt Gen S A Hasnain told the media today.
He said the operation to flush out militants from the area will continue. “We suspect the presence of a few more militants in the mountains and dense forest area. We don’t know the exact number of militants who have infiltrated but we have killed five militants so far and remaining, if any, will also be eliminated,” he said.
He said the gunfight started during the intervening night of 26/ 27 September after troops intercepted a group of militants, who were trying to sneak into the valley. The army and policemen had immediately cordoned off the entire area and additional reinforcement were rushed to the forest area to prevent militants from sneaking into Kashmir.
Meanwhile, the police spokesman said bodies of five militants killed in the gunfight were retrieved from the encounter site. “Arms and ammunition was recovered from the deceased militants,” he said.
He said bodies of the militants were handed over to the local Auqaf Committee for last rites.