J&K: Cop killed in gunbattle with millitants in Sopore

An ongoing operation to flush the militants out of the forest area near Sopore, J&K, has left a policeman dead.

Srinagar, Nov 16: An ongoing operation to flush the militants out of the forest area near Sopore, J&K, has left a policeman dead.

The policeman, Muhammad Shafi, was killed on Wednesday morning while the security forces engaged the millitants in a feirce gunbattle.

"Following specific information, about a group of militants hiding in the forest area of Zaloora near Sopore town, security forces launched an operation," a senior police officer told new agency IANS.

"As the security forces, including troops of 20 Rashtriya Rifles and Special Operations Group (SOG), closed in on the hiding militants, the insurgents opened indiscriminate fire killing a police constable," he said.

Last week, one millitant was killed in an overnight encounter with the security forces in south Kashmir's Shopian district. The gunbattle had left two soldiers injured.

The terrorist activity and ceasefire violations by Pakistan at the border has seen a surge since India's surgical strikes on terror launching platforms in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir on September 29.

(With IANS inputs)