Army officer killed, 4 jawans injured

Srinagar, Mar 16 (UNI) An Army officer was killed and four soldiers were injured after killing a militant in a fierce gun battle in the Kashmir valley.

In other militancy related incidents, a councilor and his family members escaped bid on their lives and unidentified gun men snatched seven mobile sets during the past 24hours.

A defence ministry spokesman said that an encounter took place at Sopore in north Kashmir today.

He said Lt Col M S Kadam received serious injuries after militants attacked him when he was leading from the front. The officer despite being wounded killed a militant identified as Hafiz Nasir alias Hamza alias Haider, Chief Operational Commander of Pakistan based Lashker-e-Toiba (Let).

Lt Col Kadam later succumbed to his injuries.

Official sources said security forces and police launched a joint search operation at village Chatloora Sopore, about 55 Km from here today, following a tip off about the presence of militants.

During the operation militants attacked the security party injuring two jawans and two police personnel.

Reinforcement was rushed to the area from near by camps, they said adding the operation was still going on when the reports last came in.

Militants hurled a hand grenade towards the house of Mohammad Amin, a National Conference Municipal councillor at Bandipore.

However, it missed the intended target and exploded at the distance without causing any damage. The councillor and his family members escaped unhurt.

Security forces averted a tragedy when they detected and defused a live grenade at Bandipora.

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