Militant, policeman killed in Kashmir

SRINAGAR - A Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) militant and a policeman were killed in a gunbattle between security forces and guerrillas in Jammu and Kashmir’s Sopore town, police said Tuesday.

The body of the militant, identified as Zubair, was recovered from the debris of a house where he had taken shelter and which the security forces destroyed Monday, a police officer told IANS.

A police constable also died while two soldiers of the Rashtriya Rifles and two civilians were injured in the battle that lasted for nearly eight hours.

The gunfight in Baghat area of Sopore, about 60 km from here, ended late Monday but a search of the house continued for hours later.

The fighting began when militants fired rifle grenades at a Rashtriya Rifles camp and then ran into the house.

When security forces threw a ring and asked the gunmen to surrender, they opened fire, triggering heavy fighting.

Guerrillas carried out a string of attacks in Sopore town Monday in which three policemen, a Special Police Officer and five employees of the Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) were injured.