Srinagar: Three separatist militants are reported to have been killed in a gun battle with the security forces in Chak Tappar village of Jammu and Kashmir's northwestern Baramulla district.
The officials said here Saturday that the firefight broke out on Friday night, hours after the Army's 29 Rashtriya Rifles, J&K police's counterinsurgency Special Operations Group (SOG), and the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) had launched a cordon-and-search operation at Chak Tappar to flush out militants who were hiding in the village.
The operation was, however, suspended around midnight to avoid collateral damage, a police official said. He added, "At first light on Saturday, the security forces launched a final assault on the terrorists holed up in the besieged precincts, leading to their elimination, and with that the guns fell silent."
Meanwhile, Army's Northern Command chief Lieutenant General MV Suchindra Kumar paid tribute to the supreme sacrifice to Naib Subedar Vipan Kumar and Sepoy Arvind Singh who were killed in a gun battle with militants in eastern Kishtwar district on Friday.
The security forces comprising the men from the Army and J&K police clashed with a heavily equipped group of militants in Kishtwar's Chattru area on Friday, leaving four Army jawans injured. Two of them including a Junior Commissioned Officer succumbed to the injuries at a military hospital later, a defence spokesman said
The encounter took place a day before Prime Minister, Narendra Modi's, visit to the Chenab Valley comprising Kishtwar, Doda, and Ramban districts to address an election rally being organised by the BJP on Saturday.
A statement issued by the Northern Command in the garrison town of Udhampur said that Lt. Gen. Kumar expressed support on his and the Army's behalf for the families of the slain soldiers, saying, “Dhruva Command stands firm with the bereaved families in this hour of grief.”
The General Officer Commanding (GOC) of the Nagrota (Jammu)- based White Knight Corps (16 Corps) also conveyed his deepest condolences to the kin of the slain soldiers, honoring their "courage and sacrifice".
A spokesman of the White Knight Corps had said on Friday that an operation based on the intelligence inputs was jointly launched by the Army and the J&K police in the Shah Pursal area of Chattru early Friday. “A contact was established with the terrorists at 3.30 pm (Friday). In the ensuing firefight four Army personnel have been injured,” the spokesman had said, adding that the operation is in progress.
On September 11, the Indian Army had gunned down two militants in a firefight that broke out in the Khandara top area of Udhampur district soon after the security forces moved in after learning about the presence of a heavily armed group of militants there.
Earlier on the intervening night of September 8 and 9, the Army together with the J&K police had killed two infiltrators soon after they sneaked into the Lam sector of J&K's Nowshera area. The Army had claimed that a large quantity of 'war-like' stores including two AK 47 rifles and a pistol were found on the slain infiltrators.
Kishtwar, Udhampur, and Nowshera fall in the Jammu region which has witnessed a spike in terror attacks and clashes between the militants and security forces in recent months in which the security forces particularly the Army suffered heavy losses.
The Army recently inducted 3,000 additional troops including two battalions of the Assam Rifles and 500 para commandos before launching an “Operation All Out” against the militants in Jammu region's Chenab valley and neighboring districts of Udhampur, Kathua, and in the Poonch and Rajouri districts bordering with PoJK.
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