Day after J-K encounters, toll up: 2 soldiers and 6 militants

“From the confirmation of bodies, we have reports that six terrorists have been killed,” Director General of Police (DGP) R R Swain told reporters. “This is a big milestone, a substantial progress. These successes have a lot of meaning in the security environment”.

Soliders pay homage on Sunday to Pradeep Nain and Prabhakar Janjal who died in the Kulgam encounters. (PTI)

“This is an indication that the security architecture and involvement of people is leading to the flow of human intelligence and this fight (against terror) will be taken to its logical conclusion,” he said.

On Saturday, a joint team of Jammu and Kashmir Police, Army and paramilitary forces had cordoned off Modergam village following intelligence inputs on the presence of militants in the area. As the team zeroed in on them, the militants hiding there opened indiscriminate fire, prompting the forces to retaliate, security sources said. The Para commando, Pradeep Nain, was killed in the initial exchange of fire.

The gunfight resumed Sunday morning. After a brief exchange of fire, the bodies of two militants were recovered from the encounter site.

While there was no official word on the identity of the militants, police sources said both were local residents and one of them had joined the militant ranks just two months ago. According to sources, the two militants were linked to The Resistance Front (TRF), which is identified as a shadow outfit of the Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) by the police.

While the encounter was on in Modergam village on Saturday, another gunfight broke out in Chinigam village after the area was cordoned off following similar intelligence inputs. Four militants and a soldier, Prabhakar Janjal, were killed in the gunfight.

Police sources said the security forces failed to locate the militants in Chinigam during their initial search. When the joint team launched another cordon-and-search operation, the militants had come out of their hideout and were in a tin shed, said sources. A gunfight then ensued.

Police sources said all the four militants are residents of Kulgam district and had joined militant ranks in the last three years. According to sources, they were linked to the banned Hizbul Mujahideen.