M A I N   N E W S

BSF officer dies in shootout
Hizbul commander killed

SRINAGAR, Oct 17 (UNI, PTI) — A Deputy Commandant of the Border Security Force and four militants were among six persons killed in Kashmir during the past 24 hours.

Deputy Commandant B.S. Rathod and two militants were killed and two BSF personnel, including an Assistant Commandant, injured in a fierce clash at Sumbal.

A BSF spokesman giving details about yesterday’s clash at Sumbal in north Kashmir, said on receiving information that some militants were hiding there, a BSF party led by Deputy Commandant Rathod raided the area.

When the party was about to enter the hideout, the militants opened fire. The BSF personnel retaliated and in the ensuing clash, Deputy Commandant Rathod lost his life while two more, including an Assistant Commandant, sustained injuries.

Two militants were also killed in the clash and arms and ammunition, including two assault rifles and some magazines, seized from the site.

A “divisional commander” of the Hizbul Mujahideen, involved in several militant attacks in Jammu and Kashmir, was killed in an encounter by the Special Operations Group (SOG) of the state police at Pattan in north Kashmir last night.

Nazir Ahmad, alias “Kobra”, was evading arrest for the past nine years and was involved in countless killings and explosions besides functioning as a “bridge” between local and foreign militants operating in Ganderbal area of Srinagar and Baramula districts, Deputy Superintendent of Police, Jagtar Singh, who led the operation, said.

Terming the operation as a “major breakthrough”, he said he had received specific information about the presence of a group of Hizbul Mujahideen and Lashker-e-Toiba (LeT) “commanders” in a house at Hanjiveera village of Pattan.

These militants were reported to be chalking out a strategy to intensify attacks on security forces on the Srinagar-Baramula national highway and other parts of Srinagar and Baramula districts.

Noticing the raiding parties, the militants opened fire. In the ensuing encounter, the Hizb militant was killed while others escaped.

He said “Kobra” was elevated to the post of “divisional commander” after the killing of Hamid Gadda by the Army in Ganderbal area early this year.

Two Indian soldiers and a civilian were killed in unabated artillery and mortar firing by Pakistani troops along the Line of Control (LoC) in the Uri sector of north Kashmir today.

The shelling all along the northern sectors was intense in Charunda area of Uri where some shells hit a forward Indian post and a residential house, leaving two Army personnel and an aged civilian dead.

Havaldar Isher Singh and Sepoy Seer Kawal Bhali of 3-Jat Regiment were killed when a shell hit their picket while the civilian received fatal injuries when his house was damaged in the shelling.

JAMMU: An Army jawan was injured when a powerful IED planted by suspected militants exploded, damaging an Army truck on the Doda-Baderwah road.

The driver was shifted to the Military Hospital where he was said to be in critical condition.