JCO killed, two soldiers wounded in Kashmir encounter

Srinagar, July 2 (UNI) A Junior Commissioned Officer (JCO) of the Army was killed and two other soldiers were wounded in a gunbattle with militants in Bandipora area of north Kashmir's Baramulla district this evening, official sources said.

The operation has been suspended and will resume with the break of dawn tomorrow, they said.

They said two militants were believed to be holed up in two adjacent houses in the area and fired at the troops from there.

However, unconfirmed reports said the militants took refuge in a mosque.

The sources said the encounter erupted when a search party of 14 Rashtriya Rifles (RR) was attacked by the militants at Gamaru in Bandipora area at 1715 hrs.

The fire was effectively retaliated by troops and a cordon was laid in the entire area, they added.

The sources said militants took refuge in some houses and were firing upon the troops from there.

In the gunfight, they said Subedar Jagdish Chand was killed and two other soldiers were wounded. However, an Army spokesman identified him as a non-commissioned officer, Havildar Jagdish Chand.

Residents of the area called up UNI over phone from Bandipora and alleged that troops have burnt down six houses in the area.

They alleged that troops did not allow police or the fire brigade personnel to come to the rescue of the locals to move beyond Papachan village, about 4 km from Bandipora town.

The encounter came two days after 15 RR Lt Colonel V R Chauhan, two militants and a civilian were killed in more than a five-hour-long fierce gunfight at Nowpora market in Bandipora area on June 30. A BSF personnel was also wounded in the encounter.

The Jammu and Kashmir Police recently announced a reward of Rs five lakh on Salahuddin alias Bilal alias Haider, a Pakistani militant of the banned Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) outfit.

Salahuddin is the LeT chief operational commander in Jammu and Kashmir and at present believed to be hiding at Sumblar in Bandipora area. An exceptionally tall man standing at 6.5 ft, he looks after the whole LeT network in Jammu and Kashmir and has masterminded most of the suicide attacks in the Valley.

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