Four forces personnel were killed and eight others injuredin a gunfight in northern Handwara area on Friday, even as a 22-year-old youthwas killed and five others wounded as forces fired bullets and pellets duringclashes that rocked the encounter site.
The slain forces personnel included an inspector, identifiedas Pintu, from the central reserve police force (CRPF), a paramilitary trooperand two policemen, an official said.
He said following inputs about presence of militants, ajoint party of the army’s 22 Rashtriya Rifles, 92 battalion CRPF and specialoperations group of J&K police launched a cordon-and-search operation(CASO) in Babagund village in Handwara at around 6am.
“The militants openedfire, triggering a gunfight, which continued throughout the day, though firingstopped completely at times,” said the official.
He said a militant who was “presumed to be dead” after thehouse in which the militants were trapped was razed to the ground, stood up andresorted to heavy firing, resulting in injuries to 12 forces personnel.
Four among the injured, including the inspector, succumbedlater.
“I cannot say anything about killing of militants till theoperation is over,” said DIG north Kashmir range Sulaiman Chowdhary.
A witness said thousands of people marched towards thegunfight site and pelted forces with stones in a bid to disrupt the operationand help the militants escape. However, the forces fired pellets and teargasshells to chase away the protesters, he said.
One civilian, later identified as Waseem Ahmad Mir son ofMohammad Akbar of Segipora Sopore, received fatal bullet injury in his head.Two of the five injured had bullet wounds while others suffered pellet injuriesto their eyes.
“One civilian was brought dead while another who was hitwith a bullet in his leg was referred to Srinagar for further treatment,” saidmedical superintendent of district hospital Dr Rouef Ahmad.
Block medical officer Langate, Dr Nazir Ahmad, said thepellet-injured were referred to district hospital after they were givenpreliminary treatment here.
The search operation was going on when this report wasfiled.
A statement issued by the police said based on “credibleinput” about presence of militants in Babagund, a CASO was launched in thearea.
“As the searches were going on, the hiding militants firedindiscriminately on the search party. In the process, two police personnel, twoCRPF personnel and one individual sustained critical injuries and succumbed.The two police personnel who attained martyrdom have been identified as NaseerAhmad Kholi and Ghulam Mustafa Barah and two CRPF personnel have beenidentified as inspector Pintu and constable Vinod. In the nearby area, oneindividual identified as Waseem Ahmad Mir also sustained bullet injury andconsequently succumbed at the hospital,” the statement said, adding citizensare requested not to venture inside encounter zone since “such an area canprove dangerous due to stray explosive materials”.