Srinagar: Three militants of Jash-e-Mohammad including outfits top commander, four army men, one of them a Major, a policeman and civilian were killed in a fierce gunfight at Pingleena area of south Kashmir’s Pulwama district on Monday.
DIG south Kashmir Amit Kumar and army Brigadier Harbeer Singh were among five officer injured along with five army personnel were injured in the gunfight.
A police official said that the gunfight broke out early on Monday when a joint team of army’s 55 Rashtriya Rifles, SOG of Police and CRPF came under fire as they launched a cordon-and-search operation in the area.
In the initial stage of the gunfight, two militants and four soldiers including a Major and a civilian, owner of the house in which militants were hiding, Mushtaq Ahmad Bhat (46) were killed while three soldiers were injured.
The slain army soldiers were identified as Major Vibhuti Shankar Dhoundiyal, Havildar Sheo Ram, Sepoy Hari Singh and Sepoy Ajay Kumar.
There was a lull and the government forces moved in to retrieve bodies of two militants which were visible from a distance, the official said. However, militants opened fresh fire, leading to injuries to a Lieutenant Colonel and two more soldiers who were removed to army hospital.
Later, DIG south Kashmir Amit Kumar and army Brigadier Harbeer Singh along with three other soldiers, among them two officer, and a Head Constable, escorting a police officer, were injured in before the lone militant was killed, the officer said. He said that head constable Abdul Rashid succumbed to injuries. The militants have been identified as Kamran of Pakistan, Fahad of Pakistan and one local militant Hilal of Pinglena Pulwama. Hilal’s body handed over to family, the official added.
