By Hilal Mir & Aynur Seyma Asan
SRINAGAR, Jammu and Kashmir (AA): Police in Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir said Thursday that they had cornered two militants believed to be behind the killing of two army officers and a policeman on a counter-militancy operation.
“In solemn tribute to the unwavering valor of Col Manpreet Singh, Major Ashish Dhonak & DSP (deputy superintendent of police) Humayun Bhat who laid down their lives leading from the front during this ongoing operation. Our forces persist with unwavering resolve as they encircle 2 LET (Lashkar-e-Taiba) terrorists including Uzair Khan,” the police said in a tweet, referring to the three casualties from a Wednesday gunfight in a southern Kashmir village in Anantnag.
Two militants and four security officers were killed Wednesday in clashes in India’s Jammu and Kashmir region.
A joint operation was launched by the Indian army and police based on “intelligence indicating the presence of a group of terrorists” in the Kokernag area of Jammu and Kashmir’s Anantnag district, India’s NDTV channel reported.
Security forces initiated an operation in some areas of Jammu and Kashmir in response to the information.
The Indian army said that in Kokernag, two soldiers and one police officer lost their lives during a confrontation with militants.
Police added that one soldier and two militants also died during a clash in Rajouri district.
These were the highest-profile army and police killings since May 2020, when Col. Ashutosh Sharma, Maj. Anuj Sood, police sub-Inspector Mohammad Sagier Qazi and two soldiers were killed in a gunfight with militants in the northern Kashmir district of Handwara. Two militants were also killed during the more than 18-hour gunfight.
Col. Bikkumalla Santosh Babu, who commanded a regiment in the Ladakh region, was killed during a deadly clash with Chinese troops in June 2020. Both sides claimed casualties in the clash that saw the two countries amass thousands of troops along the disputed boundary between the two.
Wednesday’s killing was the second recent high-casualty operation for government forces in Kashmir. On Aug. 3, three Indian army soldiers were fatally injured during a gunfight with militants in Kulgam, a district neighboring Anantnag.
The region’s Lt. Gov. Manoj Sinha and other top-ranking civilian and military officials paid respects to the deceased on Wednesday.
Disputed region
Kashmir, a Muslim-majority Himalayan region, is held by India and Pakistan in parts and claimed by both in full. A small sliver of Kashmir is also held by China.
Since they were partitioned in 1947, the two countries have fought three wars – in 1948, 1965 and 1971 – two of them over Kashmir.
In the Siachen glacier region in northern Kashmir, Indian and Pakistani troops have fought intermittently since 1984. A cease-fire came into effect in 2003.
Some Kashmiri groups in Jammu and Kashmir have been fighting against Indian rule for independence or for unification with neighboring Pakistan.
Thousands of people have been killed in the conflict in the region since 1989, according to human rights groups.
[Archive Photo: Indian policeman watches Kashimirs in Srinagar, India-administered state of Jammu and Kashmir on August 14, 2023. Photographer: Faisal Khan/ AA]
