Lt Col, 8 intruders among 14 killed, 12 ultras nabbed in J

Srinagar, June 30 (UNI) In a stepped up violence, a Lt Colonel and 11 militants, including eight infiltrators, were among the 14 people killed in various militancy related incidents in Jammu and Kashmir during the past 24 hours, an official spokesman said today.

Elsewhere in the state, security forces averted a major tragedy on the Srinagar-Jammu national highway by defusing an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) hours before a convoy of Amarnath pilgrims was to pass through the area while the Jammu and Kashmir Police claimed to have arrested 12 militants of the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) responsible for the 'fidayeen' (suicide) attack on a Congress rally here on May 21.

Giving complete details of a fierce encounter at Bandipora, a Border Security Force (BSF) spokesman said troops of 15 Rashtriya Rifles (RR) and the personnel of BSF's 90 battalion carried a joint operation at Nowpora market in the Bandipora town of Baramulla district in north Kashmir at 0830 hrs this morning.

The spokesman said, on a specific information of the BSF's intelligence wing, the security forces cordoned off a residence- cum-mini shopping complex belonging to Saifuddin Shah at Nowpora market on the information that some LeT militants, including Chotta Qasim, were hiding in the first floor of the building.

As the security forces stormed the house, he said the militants hiding inside fired upon them.

In the first burst of fire by the militants, the spokesman said 15 RR Lt Colonel V R Chouhan was hit by the bullets resulting in his on-the-spot death.

A BSF jawan, constable P Swamy, of 90 Battalion was also wounded in the gunfight, he added.

The spokesman said the house was reduced to rubble in the more than five-hour-long encounter.

He said three bodies -- two of the militants and one of an unknown person -- were later recovered from the site of the gun-battle.

Two AK-47 rifles and a pistol were also recovered from the spot, the spokesman said, adding the operation was called off at 1330 hrs this afternoon.

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