Srinagar, Sep 29: The encounter in the forests of Awath Khul at Kralpora in north Kashmir’s Kupwara district ended Thursday afternoon with the retrieval of bodies of five militants.
Official sources said that the bodies of militants were retrieved following the engagement of locals along with police.
The gunfight, they said, stopped around 4 PM.
“The locals of the village were engaged to retrieve the bodies of killed militants. 
 At present the bodies are in Army custody and will be buried in Awath Khul where five graves have been dug,” they told Greater Kashmir.
 Meanwhile, Army on Thursday said militant outfit Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) was involved in the gun battle in which nine persons including five militants and four security personnel were killed.
 “It could be Jaish-e-Muhammad but we are quite sure that the militants belong to Lashkar-e-Toiba outfit”, General Officer Commanding (GOC) of 15 Corps Lt Gen SA Hasnain told reporters on the sidelines of wreath laying ceremony at Badami Bagh Cantonment here.
 He further stated that at least nine persons, including five militants, two SOG men and two army soldiers were killed besides one injury in five-day gun battle.
 Replying to a query whether the incident displays laxity of army in counter insurgency operations, he said the army had different strategies in combating insurgency.
 “We have different strategies of counter insurgency and people should understand. In this operation we let the militants enter our territory and gunned them down”, he said.
 The body of the killed lieutenant, identified as Sushil Khajuria of 18 Grenadiers who is from Ganwyal Samba, has been retrieved and sent to his family after wreath laying ceremony Thursday morning.
 “He was brave officer as he died after killing two militants from a close range and was then attempting to retrieve the bodies of an injured policeman and a soldier,” Hasnain said.
 The encounter broke out Monday near village Kralpora, around 130 km from here, after contingents of army and police cordoned the forest area.

27 MILITANTS KILLED THIS YEAR: ARMY
PTI adds from New Delhi: Foiling a large number of infiltration bids across the Line of Control (LoC), the Indian Army has killed 27 militants this year and arrested four in Jammu and Kashmir.
 Meanwhile, around 40 militants succeeded in sneaking past the security forces this year, sources in the Indian Army said here.
 This year 27 militants were killed and four arrested while trying to cross the LoC. Out of the 175 militants trying to enter the Indian territory, only 35 to 40 have succeeded, they said.
 Last year, out of 495 militants, who made an attempt to enter J&K, 125 were gunned down by the soldiers deployed in the three-tier counter-insurgency grid. Around 90 militants were reported to have succeeded in entering J&K in 2010.
 In the last three years, maximum number of 10 militants were arrested by the Army in 2009, when 480 militants tried to cross over the borders.
 In 2009, 110 militants were killed. 10 insurgents were also arrested then, they said.

Lastupdate on : Thu, 29 Sep 2011 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Thu, 29 Sep 2011 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Fri, 30 Sep 2011 00:00:00 IST