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| Sopore encounter ends, 6 militants eliminated | | Omar terms operation 'successful' | | ET Report
SRINAGAR, Dec 19: A fierce encounter between security forces and militants that started Tuesday morning in apple town of Sopore in Baramulla district today came to an end with the killing of one more foreign militant. Six militants, all affiliated with Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) have been killed in this encounter including a local 19-year-old youth, the police said.
"The encounter is over now. One more foreign militant was killed today morning and total number of militants killed is six. Their bodies have been retrieved but their personal identity is yet to be ascertained except for one Aatir Ahmad Dar who is a resident of Model Town Sopore," said Superintendent of Police, Sopore, Imtiyaz Hussain.
He added that during the encounter two security force personnel including one Army Major of 22 RR sustained bullet injuries. "Both are safe and normal," the SP Sopore informed Early Times. The officials said that as the security forces moved in to clear the debris of a house where the militants had taken shelter during the day-long encounter yesterday, a militant who was still holed up in the house fired at the party. The security forces retaliated and the militant was killed therein, the police said.
Meanwhile, the Sopore town today observed complete bandh with shops and other business establishments being closed. Normal life was also paralysed as the gunshots and mortar shelling reverberated in the whole area. People preferred to remain inside their houses as the cordon in Sadhpora village was on when this report was being filed in the evening.
A joint operation by soldiers of Army's 22 Rashtriya Rifles (RR) and Special Operation Group (SOG) of J&K Police at Sadhpora, 55-km from here, was launched at around 3.30 am on Tuesday. Earlier, the village was cordoned off during the intervening night of Monday and Tuesday following specific information about presence of heavily-armed militants in a house.
Sources in the police said after learning about the presence of troops in the village, Aatir had made a failed attempt to escape the cordon. Later, the remaining five militants opened fire, triggering a gun battle till today morning. The police higher-ups have already termed the results of Sadhpora encounter a big success saying the militant group who had recently crossed over to this side of LoC was eyeing to carry out some major attacks in Srinagar city.
Four houses including the one where the militants were holed up have been damaged in the encounter. While the two houses belonging to Haji Ghulam Mohammad Dar and Mohammad Nawab Dar were razed to ground the other two belonging to Mohammad Yousuf Dar and Ghulam Rasool were partially damaged during the exchange of fire.
Sources in police said the six slain militants were part of a group of around 10 militants that had recently crossed over to this side of LoC and had taken shelter in dense forests of Zaingeer area of Sopore. Later the group of militants is believed to have moved to Cherhar forests some 25 Kilometers from Sopore town and three among the group were killed in two different encounters at Cherhar forests and Mundji village in Sopore in last few days.
The remaining around seven are said to have reached to Sadhpora where a chase by the security forces culminated into killing of another six militants. |
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