Soldier, two militants killed in Kashmir

Srinagar, Sep 16 (UNI) A soldier and two militants were killed in the Kashmir valley overnight, official sources said today.

They said a patrol of 7 PARA challenged a group of militants at Sona Pindi Gali, Lashdat near the Line of Control (LoC) in the frontier district of Kupwara early this morning.

An encounter ensued after the militants refused to surrender and opened indiscriminate firing on troops resulting in injuries to a soldier Jagannath Mandal. He was immediately rushed to hospital where he died.

The entire area has been sealed and reinforcement was rushed to there, sources said, adding the operation was still going on when the reports last came in.

They said two militants were killed by the security forces in a fierce encounter at Karnah. Two AK rifles, ten AK 47 magazines, 207 rounds of AK ammunition, four hand grenades, one compass, one GPS, one wireless set and Rs 10000 were recovered from the slain militants.

UNI BAS QAB KK HS1620