Basharat Rasheed
Pulwama: Bodies of militants, killed in a gunfight with government forces in Pinglish village of Tral area of this south Kashmir district, have been retrieved, officials said on Monday.
The gunfight between militants and a joint team of army’s 42 Rashtriya Rifles, police and 180 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) ensued on Sunday afternoon.
According to reports, the house where the militants were trapped was razed to the ground.
The identity of the slain militants was being ascertained as their bodies are charred beyond recognition, police source said.
A police spokesman in a statement issued yesterday said from the incriminating materials recovered at the site of encounter, “it is understood that the militants were affiliated with proscribed outfit JeM.” Two bodies were recovered, police said.
Soon after the gunfight started, scores of youth attempted to break the cordon and tried to march towards the gunfight site in a bid to help the militants escape, they said.
The youth clashed with the government forces who in turn used teargas shells to disperse them. There were no reports about major injury to anyone during the clashes.
