Four guerrillas, soldier killed in J&K gunfights (Roundup)

Four separatist guerrillas and a soldier were killed on Monday in three different gun battles in Jammu and Kashmir.

In the fortnight long continuing operation against separatist guerrillas near the Line of Control (LoC) in Manigah forest area of north Kashmir's Kupwara district, one guerrilla was killed by the security forces on Monday.

The protracted operation against a group of heavily armed militants was launched by the security forces in the dense forests of Manigah in Kupwara district a fortnight ago after the group infiltrated into the Indian side of the LoC from the Pakistan occupied part of the state.

An Indian Amry colonel and a lieutenant colonel were martyred in the operation. The slain senior army officers were Colonel Santosh Mahadik and Lieutenant Colonel K.S. Natt.

The army deployed para commandos and helicopters to ensure that the group of guerrillas was prevented from entering the hinterland or escape back into the Pakistan side of the LoC.

The special operations group (SOG) of the state police has also been deployed for the Manigah forest operation to hunt down the guerrillas.

A soldier was killed on Monday in Nowshera sector of the LoC in Rajouri district of Jammu region when the army challenged a group of guerrillas who had sneaked into the Indian side from across the border.

Till last reports, the operation against the guerrillas was going on near the LoC in Nowshera sector.

Three local guerrillas, belonging to Hizbul Mujahideen (HM) group, were killed in another brief gunfight in Tantraypora area of Siligam village in south Kashmir's Anantnag district on Monday.

Troops of the counter insurgency 3-Rashtriya Rifles and the SOG surrounded a house in Tantraypora (Siligam) village following specific information that three militants were hiding in a house.

When the guerrillas were asked to surrender, they resorted to indiscriminate firing at the surrounding security forces triggering a gunfight.

The gunfight lasted for sometime during which all the three guerrillas were killed. The security forces did not suffer any casualty.

The three militants were identified as Adil, Amir and Arif, all locals belonging to the Hizbul Mujahideen group.