An encounter between militants and security forces started in Marwah area of district Kishtwar Friday, a first in seven years.
“On a specific input about some anti-national elements atvillage Appan of Marwah area of district Kishtwar, a team of Special OperationGroup (SOG) and police reached the area. While police team was on job, it cameunder fire from unidentified militants near Faizi Bridge. The fire wasretailed. In this fire 2 SPOs namely Mohammad Iqbal and AshiqHussain gotbullets,” a police statement said.
SSP Kishtwar, Shakti Kumar Pathak, told Greater Kashmir thata joint operation by police, army and SOG has been launched in the area to nabthe militants.
“The injured have been shifted to Army hospital in Udhampur.Among the injured SPOs, one is out of dander while another is in criticalcondition,” he said.
IGP Jammu M. K. Sinha visited Army Command Hospital atUdhampur to enquire about the health of the injured SPOs. “The operationis going on in the area and reinforcement of SOG and army have been sent toneutralise the terrorists,” the IGP said.
According to police details, the last encounter in Kishtwarwas witnessed in February 2012 in Dool-Bunzwar forest area in which twomilitants namely Rafiq and Shahnawaz were killed. According to a senior policeofficer, there are eight militants and “more than 100 Over-Ground-Workers”active in district Kishtwar. In order to deal with them, several SOG camps andpersonnel have been deployed in Kishtwar as well as in other regions.