Militants flee after brief gunfight in Anantnag

ANANTNAG — After a brief exchange of fire last evening, the militants have managed to give slip to the security forces in Marhama area of Bijebhera in south Kashmir’s Anantnag district while the searches in the Bandipora woods are going on for the second consecutive day.

An official told the news agency Kashmir News Observer (KNO) that a joint team of Police, Army’s 3 RR and CRPF launched a Cordon and Search Operation (CASO) on specific information about the presence of militants in the area on Wednesday evening.

He said that as the joint team of forces approached the suspected spot, the hiding militants fired upon them, which was retaliated, triggering a gunfight.

“After the initial exchange of fire, no contact was established with the militants,” the official said, adding that cordon layers were tightened after the initial exchange of fire, however, nothing has been found following which operation has been called off.

Meanwhile, searches continued for the second consecutive day in the forests of north Kashmir’s Bandipora where a local Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) militant, who was a part of a newly infiltrated militant group, was killed on Wednesday.

“The killed militant has been identified as Gulzar Ahmad Ganie, resident of Wussan Pattan area of Baramulla. He had exfiltrated in the year 2018 and remained there for three years and six months before infiltrating back in the last week of April. Search for other two accomplice militants is still going on,” said a police official.

An official said that the searches in the forests are going on. “We are trying to establish a contact with the militants,” he said.