SRINAGAR: A police head constable and a militant were killed in an encounter in a forest area in the border district of Kathua in Jammu and Kashmir on Sunday, while another encounter broke out in the neighbouring Rajouri district.
Jammu ADGP Anand Jain said a police head constable, Bashir Ahmed, was killed in an encounter with militants in the village Kog (Mandli) in Kathua district on Saturday evening.
He said a joint party of police, Army and CRPF had launched a search operation in the area on Saturday afternoon after receiving inputs about the presence of militants. “There was a firefight between militants and troops during the search operation in the evening in which head constable Bashir Ahmed was killed and Dy SP Sukhbir Singh and ASI Niaz Ahmed injured,” he said.
The injured DySP and ASI were shifted to a nearby hospital, where doctors have termed their condition as stable. “The search operation continued in the area and the contact was again established with militants on Sunday morning. In the firefight, a militant was killed,” the ADGP said.
A large cache of arms and ammunition and war-like stores were recovered from the slain militant, who is suspected to be a Pakistani national. “We have got inputs that a group of 2-3 militants are hiding in the area and the search is going on,” a police officer said.
As the searches were going on in Kathua, a firefight broke out between militants and security forces during a search operation in the neighbouring Rajouri district.
“Based on specific intelligence about presence of terrorists, a joint search operation was launched by security forces at Manial Gali, Thanamandi in Rajouri district on Sunday. Afew rounds have been fired from both sides,” ADGP said. The area has been cordoned off and more troops rushed to tighten the siege.