Militant, cop killed in Kashmir gunfight

SRINAGAR - A separatist guerrilla and a police constable were killed in an ongoing gunfight between militants holed up in a house and security forces in north Kashmir Sopore town Friday, police said.

Troops of the Rashtriya Rifles, paramilitary Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and the Special Operations Group (SOG) of the local police surrounded a house in Krankshivan Naseem Bagh area of Sopore early Friday following information about a group of guerrillas hiding inside, a senior police officer said here.

As the holed up militants were challenged and asked to surrender, they opened fire at the surrounding troops, triggering a gunfight that is still going on,” he said.

One militant has been killed and a constable of the SOG, who had entered the house at 5 a.m. to carry out a surprise assault at the guerrillas, is also feared dead, the officer said.

Sopore is nearly 55 km from here.

Reinforcements of security forces have been rushed to the site and the troops are proceeding cautiously to eliminate the holed up militants without any collateral damage to civilian life, police said.