Lashkar guerrilla killed in Kashmir, gunfight still on

SRINAGAR - A Lashkar-e-Taiba militant was gunned down in a fierce gunbattle with security forces in south Kashmir Wednesday evening, police said.

The gunfight, which was still on late Wednesday night, also left two soldiers and a policeman wounded in Tangmarg Watu village of Kulgam district, nearly 70 km from here.

The shootout began after police and army in a joint operation laid a seige to a house where a group of Lashkar militants was hiding, said an official. The number of militants engaged in the gunfight was not yet known.

“When the holed-up militants were challenged to surrender, they opened fire from automatic weapons and injured a policeman and two soldiers,” the police official said.

The injured have been evacuated to a hospital.

“One militant has been killed so far,” the official said. As it grew dark, security forces floodlit the area around the house and sealed it, using coils of concertina wire.

This is the second shootout in south Kashmir in as many days. On Tuesday, security forces killed a Hizbul Mujahideen guerrilla in Abhama village of Pulwama district.