Gunshots rang out in the South Kashmir neighbourhood of Nader in Tral on Thursday as the people were beginning to wake up for the morning prayers. A heavy number of security force personnel encircled few houses where they had information about the presence of militants.
By around 9 am, one militant was already dead, and there was only an intermittent exchange of gunfire which was taking place. Within one hour the firing had stopped. The firing resumed after some lull, and in the exchange of firing, the death of militants rose to three.
Senior Superintendent of Police Awantipora, Sajad Ahmad Shah, confirmed the death of three militants in the gunfight.
According to the officials, the encounter was launched based on a specific intelligence input about the presence of militants, following which a cordon and search operation (CASO) was started. The CASO was jointly launched by the Army, Jammu and Kashmir Police, and Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel.
The army said that the troops observed a suspicious movement. On being challenged, the militants opened heavy fire, and a fierce gunfight ensued. According to local residents, they came across several vehicles of security force personnel travel to the site, which was sealed off for civilian movement after the encounter.
“We were preparing for morning prayers when we heard the gunshots in our area. The house where the militants were trapped lies in close vicinity of ours. The cordon had been launched several hours before the exchange of fire took place,” said Hamid Ahmad, a local resident of Nader.
The area lies around 3 kilometers from the main town Tral and the village, which comprises of over 100 households, was completely sealed off from all sides to ensure that the militants don’t escape from the encounter site.
Earlier, security forces blasted some of the houses of militants in Tral only and also released a list of 14 militants who are active in Jammu and Kashmir. A top police official however said that the number of active local militants was on the higher side, including those who have exfiltrated to Pakistan.
A police official said that the cordon started at around 4 am and subsequently after a few rounds of fire exchange with the militants, the gunfight became intense.
“The area was completely sealed and is on the other side of the Tral town where earlier houses of militants were blasted,” he said.
“The firing stopped for some sometime before it resumed with the holed up militants,” added another police official.
The encounter in Tral came barely within 48 hours of another one, which was launched in the Shukhroo area of South Kashmir라이브 바카라 Shopian where three militants were killed in a gun battle in the forest area while the subsequent searches continued for several hours.
The gun battle in Sukhroo was the first one since India and Pakistan announced a ceasefire, which followed a series of drone and missile strikes on each other라이브 바카라 territory by the two countries.
