Gunfight near LoC, one soldier killed

One soldier was killed and another injured in a gunfight with militants trying to sneak across the LoC in Jammu and Kashmir's Kupwara district on Thursday, defence officials said.

Defence Ministry spokesman Col. Rajesh Kalia told IANS that the incident took place near the Line of Control (LoC) in Keran Sector, when a Rashtriya Rifles patrol intercepted two to four infiltrating militants, triggering the gunfight.

While he said that the two soldiers suffered non-fatal injuries and were taken to the army's Drugmulla hospital in Kupwara, defence sources later said the condition of one of them, identified as Sepoy Sukhvinder Singh, deteriorated and he was brought to the Base Hospital here.

The soldier succumbed to his injuries later.

Thursday's incident came on a day when Indian Home Minister Rajnath Singh is visiting Jammu and Kashmir to decide whether or not the conditional Ramadan truce against militants should be extended to the coming Amarnath Yatra.

--IANS

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