SRINAGAR; A major of the Indian army died in a accident Monday while on a operation against insurgents in South Kashmir's Islamabad district, a defence spokesman said.

According to the defence spokesman, a unit of Rashtriya Rifles had launched a cordon and search operation in Panchalthan (Chaugam) village of Islamabad, during which Maj.Rahul Singh sustained a fatal head injury due to 10-15 metre fall caused by extreme slippery terrain due to the inclement weather.

"The accident happened at 11 a.m. when Maj. Rahul Singh, braving the extremely inclement weather, led his troops as part of the operation.

"On reaching Panchalthan, the officer, due to extreme slippery ground conditions caused due to almost 48 hours of continuous rains, slipped and lost his balance. He fell 10-15 meters down in a ridge which resulted in a head injury leading to his death," the spokesman added.

The officer had been in service for nine years. (IANS)

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KUPWARA; Two policemen including an officer were injured in a fierce gunfight that broke out between armed fighters and government forces in north Kashmir's Kupwara district late Monday evening.

Official sources said that acting on a specific information about the presence of insurgents, army's 19 Marathas and Special Operation Group (SOG) of police cordoned off the whole area of Zunreshi village of Chowkibal around 07:20 PM.

The joint team intensified the searches in the area and the armed fighters beleived to be two in number opened heavy fire upon the forces, sources said.

They said that the fire was retailated ensuing a fierce gunfight."During the gunfight two policemen including an Assistant Sub-Inspector of Special Operation Group of Police sustained bullet injuries".

Both the injured were immediately shifted to army's Drugmulla hospital for treatment, sources said. The encounter was still going on when reports last came in.

BANDIPORA; A teenage boy was killed while two others received injuries during protests against government forces in North Kashmir’s Bandipora district on Friday.


Scores of youth took to streets after Friday congregation and started pelting stones upon the personals of 18th Battalion of  Indian Reserve Police (IRP) in Naidkhai area of the district.


In retaliation, the forces resorted to teargas shelling to disperse the protesters, reports added.

Later in the evening, the situation took an ugly turn when forces opened fire at Naidkhai Bazar resulting injuries to three persons.

The injured were rushed to Pattan hospital where a youth identified as Farhat Ahmad Dar, 18, son of Ghulam Rasool Dar R.O: Shahgund Sonawari, succumbed to his injuries. He received a bullet in his heart, doctors at Pattan hospital said.

As the news about the killing of a local youth spread in the area, hundreds of people including men, women and children took to streets and staged massive anti-India protests.

UPDATE at 7:45 PM: Reports suggest that heavy stone pelting is going in Palhalan.

UPDATE at 7:56 PM: Kashmir Police chief Abdul Gani Mir confirmed the casualty.

UPDATE at 08:10 PM: Police statement reads, "Today in evening hours an unruly mob in Naidkhai Sumbal attacked a security personnel vehicle and tried to set it ablaze. Security personnel boarding in the vehicle fired in air to disperse the mob in which one person got injured."

UPDATE at 08:40 PM: District’s Deputy Commissioner, Shah Faisal, has ordered an inquiry into the killing.

SRINAGAR; An unidentified militant was killed Monday in an encounter with CRPF troopers in Tral town of south Kashmir’s Pulwama district.

Official sources told a local news gathering agency GNS that unknown militants opened heavy gunfire over a patrolling party of CRPF 185 battalion near the bus stand Tral in Awantipora area of the district. In the retaliatory fire, an unknown militant was killed.

Dead body of unidentified militant killed in Tral

Two more militants while taking the advantage of darkness managed to escape from the site, he said.
“One militant has been killed in the ongoing gunfight. Searches have been launched in the area,” a CRPF spokesman Kishore Prassad said.

However, official sources told GNS that police didn’t recover any arms or ammunition when it reached the spot. (GNS)

PULWAMA; Unidentified gunmen shot dead an 85-year-old man, Ghulam Mohammad Dar, when he was returning home on Saturday night after performing prayers at a mosque at Dogripora, in the vicinity of the garrison township of Awantipora, in southern Kashmir.

Ghulam Mohammad Dar, killed by Unidentified gunmen

DIG Vijay Kumar told that the unidentified assailant fired a single shot at Mr. Dar’s head from a pistol. He died on the spot.

Mr. Dar’s son Shaban is currently a Peoples Democratic Party activist and Sarpanch in his area.

SRINAGAR; Over two decades of insurgency in Jammu and Kashmir killed at least 5,300 Indian troopers, according to Chief Minister Omar Abdullah.

“As many as 3,906 security personnel, including Army, CRPF, BSF and other paramilitary personnel and excluding policemen, have been killed in the State after militancy erupted in 1989,” Omar Abdullah, who also heads the Home Department told the J&K Legislative Assembly in the winter capital, while replying to a motion on grants under his departments.

Abdullah said 119 security personnel were killed in militancy-related incidents in 1990. “As many as 141 security personnel died in militant attacks and encounters in the State in 1991. In 1992, 158 Army and paramilitary personnel were killed,” he said.

The Chief Minister said that with the passage of time there has been a decline in the killings of security forces. “The killings of security personnel dropped to 49 in 2010. In 2011, 18 security personnel were killed. The figure stood at nine in 2012 and 32 in 2013,” he said and added that 942 policemen were killed in militancy-related incidents in the State since 1989.

Pertinently, last year one of the biggest attack was carried on an Amry convey in Nowgam area of Srinagar, in which 18 troopers were killed, although the official records show only 8.

According to the various organizations more than one lac people have been killed in the restive region since the insurgency broke out. Out of the dead, more than 60,000 people were civilians. 

PULWAMA: A Lashkar-e-Toiba militant was killed in an encounter at Awantipora in south Kashmir’s Pulwama district late Tuesday evening.

Official sources told a local news gathering agency that at around 6:50 p.m militants attacked troops of 55 RR near Railway track in Beighpora Awantipora. The militants later tried to escape; however, they were intercepted with the help of additional reinforcement of 42 RR and SOG in the area.
The joint team of forces came under heavy fire triggering a brief gunfight.

As the intense searches were later carried by the joint team of forces resulting in recovering a body which was lying in the area, sources said, adding that the body was recovered along with arms and ammunitions. “The body was later handed over to the police concerned for further necessary actions”.

Army’s Srinagar based defence spokesman told that acting on intelligence inputs about the presence of some militants in the area; army’s 55 RR launched a cordon to eliminate the militant group.

“As the troops intensified the combing operation, the militants fired indiscriminate fire which was retaliated ensuing a gunfight resulting in death of a militant”, the spokesman said.

A senior police official told that a body has been recovered along with an AK-56 rifle, 60 rounds 04 magazines and a cell phone without sim card. “The identity of the slain is yet to be ascertained.

Unofficial sources suggest, that the militant belongs to Hizbul Mujahideen and has been identified as Waseem Yousuf Dar of Dogripora Awantipora.

The slain militant was laid to rest at his native village while thousands of people offered his funeral prayers.

“Two more militants while taking advantage of darkness managed to escape from the spot”, the official added.(GNS)