Two guerrillas killed in north Kashmir

SRINAGAR - Two separatist guerrillas were killed in Jammu and Kashmir’s Kupwara district Saturday in a gun battle with security forces.

A police officer said the security forces moved into Shahnagri village after being tipped about the presence of the militants in a house.

“When the militants were challenged to surrender, they opened automatic gunfire, triggering an encounter that lasted nearly eight hours,” the officer said.

Two militants were killed but their identity is yet to be established.

Police said that although the firing had stopped, police and the Rashtriya

Rifles were searching the area.

On Friday, seven guerrillas of the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba outfit and two soldiers were killed in a gunfight in the forested Sheikhpora area of north Kashmir’s Baramulla district.

Army and intelligence officials say that with the melting of snows in the mountain passes leading into the Kashmir Valley, more and more guerrillas are sneaking into Jammu and Kashmir from Pakistan.