Srinagar, Feb 12: Security forces were on Sunday morning engaged in a gunfight with a group of militants holed up in a house in a south Kashmir village, police said.
Television reports and locals claimed two militants were killed and a soldier hurt but the army and police refused to confirm the details.
Police said they had information that militants were hiding in Nagbal Frisal area of Jammu and Kashmir’s Kulgam district. A joint party of police and army cordoned off the village on Saturday night and started searches.
“The encounter started after militants hiding in a house opened fire,” the police control room in Kulgam said.
The gunbattle was raging when the reports last came in.
Locals said they suspected the militants were killed after the house was damaged in a blast.
Two militants were killed on a highway in the Sopore area of north Kashmir’s Baramulla district on February 4. One of them was a local Hizbul Mujahideen commander and the other a foreigner.
Last few months have seen a spate in militant strikes in the border state, with gunmen targeting security personnel and defence installation.
Though the border and the line of control are quiet these days, there were record ceasefire violations in the state before the winter set in.
