J&K highway attack: Militant killed, officer among 3 injured

One of the three militants who had fired at two persons on the Jammu-Srinagar highway in Udhampur district before escaping, was killed on Thursday, police said.

Three security men were also injured as a gunfight erupted in the Kakriyal area with the holed up militants who were tracked down to a house in Reasi district on Thursday, a police officer said.

Apart from one terrorist killed so far, a deputy superintendent of police and two Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) troopers have been injured in the operation, the officer said.

The army, police and the CRPF tracked down the militants using drones, helicopters and other surveillance gadgets over the bushy forests of Jhajar and adjoining areas where they had vanished on Wednesday.

The three militants on board a truck had attacked a checkpost in Jhajar Kotli area of Udhampur injuring a CRPF trooper and a forest guard on Wednesday. They had then abandoned the vehicle and vanished into the bushes. A search operation was on ever since.

"They were finally tracked down to a house in Kakriyal area near Mata Vaishno Devi University on Thursday," the officer said.

The villagers were promptly evacuated from the area as the final assault on the militants was mounted.

A villager earlier told the security forces that around 10 p.m. on Wednesday the three armed militants carrying haversacks entered his home, changed their clothes, took biscuits and water and left.

Traffic on the national highway between Nagrota-Jhajar Kotli was suspended on Thursday. Schools in the area were also closed for the day.

The police on Wednesday detained the driver and helper of the truck. One AK-47 rifle and three magazines were also recovered.

A police statement later said the three militants were carrying two AK-47 rifles, a pistol and haversacks.

--IANS

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