Soldier wounded, three ultras surrender in Kashmir

Srinagar, Mar 22 (UNI) A soldier was critically injured when militants fired upon a search party in the Kashmir valley last night, official sources said today.

A report from Baramulla said security forces on a tip off, cordoned off a village near Lolab in north Kashmir. However, when the security forces were sealing the area, militants attacked them with automatic weapons. The fire was returned and in the exchange one soldier was wounded. The Militants however managed to escape.

In another incident three ultras surrendered alongwith their arms and ammunition at Sopore in Baramulla district before security forces last evening said sources.

Meanwhile, a Hizbul Mujahideen (HM) spokesman has contested the police claim that five people arrested during a raid at Batmaloo were the militants of the outfit.

He said the people arrested were not associated with the outfit.

Police had recently claimed that five HM militants were arrested from Batmaloo area of the city when they were preparing an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) to target the vehicles of security force.

UNI BAS SI VC1812