Tasaduq Hussain
Kupwara: Five government forces personnel, one of them an officer of CRPF, and a militant were killed in a gunfight at Babagund, Langate in Handwara area of north Kashmir’s Kupwara district.
A youth was also killed and several others injured in alleged government forces action near the encounter site.
Official sources when a joint search team of police, CRPF and army launched a joint cordon and search operation and when they reached the suspected house, militant hiding inside opened fire, leading to a fierce gunfight. Two militants were believed to have been killed and when a joint team of government forces went to retrieve their bodies amid a lull, one of them stood up and fired indiscriminately.
Several government forces personnel were injured and five of them–two CRPF men including an Inspector, two policeman and one soldier—succumbed to injuries.
The encounter broke out during midnight after the joint team of army’s 22 RR, 92 Battalion CRPF and SOG launched a cordon-and-search operation at Khanan Babagund in Langate.
Meanwhile, a civilian Waseem Ahmad Mir son of Mohammad Akbar Mir of Zaloora suffered critical bullet wounds in his abdomen and head.
Waseem along with other injured youth were shifted to district hospital Handwara where he was declared brought dead on arrival by the doctors who attended upon him.
It could not immediately known whether the youth was among those who clashed with government forces or the bystander.
