1 woman, 2 JeM men killed in J&K clashes

Srinagar: A woman resident was killed and nine other civilians were injured during protests in Jammu and Kashmir’s southern Shopian district on Tuesday.

The clashes erupted following a nightlong gun battle in which two Jasih-e-Muhammad militants were killed and two security personnel were injured. However, a third militant escaped taking the advantage of darkness, the police said. As many as 58 people were injured in the daylong clashes with the police and other security forces.

Six of them who had received bullet injuries have been referred to Srinagar hospitals. The reports said that 24 injured were brought to the district hospital at Pulwama, 23 in Shopian hospital and 11 to neighbouring Rajpura medical facility. Most of the injured had received pellet injuries, the report quoting doctors at these hospitals said.  

Fighting erupted after the security forces including J&K Police’s counterinsurgency Special Operations Group (SOG) along with the Army’s 44 Rashtriya Rifles and the CRPF’s 14th Battalion laid siege to Bata Murran village of Shopian on Monday night.

The police said that the cordon-and-search operation was launched following “specific inputs” about the presence of militants in the area. “A cluster of houses of village Bata Murran was cordoned to flush out terrorists hiding there. But they fired upon the joint search party triggering an encounter. The cordon was strengthened and the civilians of nearby area were evacuated,” said a police spokesman here.

The spokesman said that responding to a request from the family of a local militant Tanveer Ahmed who was among the three trapped in one of the houses was repeatedly asked to surrender. “But he ignored it and he and other terrorists continued firing on the security forces which was retaliated,” the spokesman added.

Ahmed and another militant identified by the police as Ali alias Qari believed to a foreigner were killed in the nightlong encounter. The duo belonged to Jasih-e-Muhammad outfit, the police said adding that two AK assault rifles with allied ammunition were found on the slain men.

An Army jawan and policeman were injured during the encounter, the police said adding that their condition is stated to be stable.

The police confirmed that a third militant fled from fled from the encounter site “by taking advantage of the darkness”.

The locals said that 24 year old woman Ruby Jan alias Beauty was hit by a bullet in her abdomen as the security forces fired live ammunition to aggressively put down protests by locals. She died on way to the hospital.