2 Army jawans, militant killed in encounter in J&K

Srinagar: At least, one militant and two Army jawan were killed in a fire fight raging in Samboora area of Jammu and Kashmir’s southern Pulwama district since Thursday evening.

The police and Army officials said that two more militants have been trapped inside a private house at Samboora outside the highway town of Pampore and about 20-km south of summer capital Srinagar. “One soldier who was injured in the encounter has achieved martyrdom,” said Director General of Police, Shesh Paul Vaid.

He earlier tweeted, “Encounter started in south Kashmir. Reportedly one terrorist killed & two engaged in exchange of fire. JKP & SF are on to complete the task”.

The reports said that the members of J&K police’s counterinsurgency Special Operations Group (SOG) along with the Army’s 50 Rashtriya Rifles and the CRPF laid siege to Samboora on Thursday evening after learning about the presence of three militants in a private house. As they zeroed in on the militant hideout, the holed up militants opened fire triggering the encounter, said the officials. The police sources said that a body, believed to be that of a militant, is lying in the house compound.

“A heavy exchange of fire is going on amid loud explosion,” said a resident of Pampore over the phone. The mobile Internet services in entire Pulwama districy have been suspended by the authorities “as a precautionary measure.” The railways have been asked not to operate on the Srinagar-Anantnag route on Friday in view of heightening tensions in Pampore and its neighourhood, the official sources said.  

Earlier six CRPF jawans were injured when militants attacked their vehicle in southern Anantnag district’s Lazibal area, using AK 47 assault rifles on Thursday morning.

Officials said that three of the jawans on board received bullet injuries whereas the other three were injured after getting hit by broken glass panes of the vehicle.

The police said that the gunmen belonging to Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) targeted a small convoy of the CRPF’s 96 Battalion while it was passing through the area at 8.30 am. “There were six buses carrying the CRPF jawans in the convoy which came under attack from two to three terrorists who had laid ambush for it at Lazibal. The convoy was on way to the CRPF 96 Battalion’s camp at Pahalgam,” said a police spokesman.

A report said that the CRPF convoy was attacked by two motorcycle-borne militants.

The police spokesman said that one bus was hit but the jawans on board the other vehicles took positions and returned the fire. The exchange of fire continued for some time but the assailants managed to escape from the area. “Our boys responded to the attack effectively,” said CRPF’s Inspector General Zulfikar Hussain.

The injured jawans were rushed to a hospital at Mattan, the nearest town. Later they were shifted to Srinagar’s 92-Base Army hospital, the officials said.    

The LeT has while claiming responsibility for carrying out the attack said that four CRPF jawans were killed and seven others were wounded. The CRPF has denied any of its jawans was killed in the attack. The LeT also said, “Our mujahedin who carried out the attack have since safely returned to their base.”

The police sources late Thursday said that another Army jawan who was injured during the encounter at Samboora, Pampore died in a military hospital,raising the toll to two.

"The firing stopped at about 9.30 pm but the operation is still going on. The security forces are conducting searches in the area," said a police official on condition of anonymity.

A report from Pampore said that a huge crowd assembled near the encounter site and tried to disrupt the operation against the militants by hurling rocks at the security personnel. The latter used force to push them away, said a witness.