Guns roar in J&K as India, Pak begin 5th round of talks
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• Major, cop killed in LeT attack in Rajouri• 2 militants die in B’pora gunfight• Blast rocks Gulmarg, tourist among 2 killed• Militants ambush army patrol in Gandarbal, Handwara
Mir Tariq/Rising Kashmir NewsRajouri / Bandipora / Gulmarg / Srinagar, July 20: An Army major, a policeman, two militants, a tourist and a civilian were killed in fresh militancy related incidents that occurred in both Jammu and Kashmir provinces on Sunday, a day ahead of Indo-Pak talks scheduled to be held on Monday in New Delhi. On Saturday a powerful landmine explosion in city outskirts had claimed 10 army personnel. Meanwhile, two fierce gunfights were going on between militants and troopers at Nagabal, Gandernal and Waderbala, Handwara in border district of Kupwara till late into night.
RajouriThe Lashkar militants attacked an army party, posing as militants at Pagail, Rajouri on Sunday, killing an Army Major and a policeman. Three troopers were also injured in the gunfight.Police sources said that major of 43 RR Bhanu Pratap Singh accompanied by a trooper and SOG man, masquerading as militants, entered into the house of one Mohammad Sharief at Pangai in Thanmandi area of Rajouri. “Major and his men were wearing the attire being used by the militants. He introduced himself as a militant commander to Sharief and asked him that he wants to meet his colleagues, who were present inside the house,” the sources said, adding, “Without smelling any foul play, Sharief informed the hiding militants that their colleagues want to meet them. They asked him to verify the given code. As Sharief was seeking decode from the posing militants (soldiers), the militants got feel of the situation and fled from the house”.They opened fire from automatic weapons towards Major and his party. “Major Banu Pratap and police constable Angurana died on spot while three other troopers were injured. The injured were hospitalised,” sources said, adding, “Militants managed to escape from the area”.After the militant attack, 43 RR personnel arrested Sharief along with his whole family. The arrested include the house owner, his won, Mohammad Zubair, Gulzara Begum and Samina Begum. The army cordoned off the whole area and launched massive combing and search operations to flush out the militants. However, no arrests were reported. Defence spokesman, Col S D Goswami confirmed the killing of the officer and policeman. “We had information that a group of militants was roaming in Kundapangai forest in Thanamandi belt of Rajouri. At around 2 am, 43 RR and SOG men launched a joint operation to flush out the militants. During the operation, militants fired on the troopers, killing Major and policeman and injuring three soldiers”, he said.He identified the injured troopers as Rifleman Ravinder Singh, Lance Naik Gain Prakash and constable Javed . Meanwhile, Lashkar-e-Toiba has claimed the responsibility of the attack and claimed that its cadres 'inflicted heavy causality to the security forces'.In a telephonic statement to a Jammu based news agency, NAK, Lashkar spokesman, Dr Abdullah Gaznavi claimed that army ambushed a group of LeT militants during the night hours and in counter ambush by activists of the group, four soldiers including an Army Major was killed. “Our cadres reached their destinations safely", he claimed. BandiporaTwo militants including a top commander of Lashkar Toiba (LeT) were killed in an encounter at Challivan, Bandipora on Sunday.Police sources said that army’s 23 Punjab Regiment and Special Operations Group (SOG) personnel on specific information launched a combing and search operation at village Challivan, Aragm in Bandipora. “Two militants were hiding in the area and we got the information after tapping the mobile phone of a militant Gowhar Bhat who talked to his family members in Shopian last night,” sources said.They said “After plugging off all the possible escape routes, the soldiers zeroed-in on a residential house of Muhammad Yousuf Qureshi and asked the militants present inside to surrender,” sources said.They said that the militants turned down the offer and fired from automatic weapons towards the troopers. “The fire was returned and in the ensuing gunfight, a Lashkar commander and his associate were killed,” they said, adding, “The house suffered damage during the gunfight.” A cowshed was also damaged during the encounter.Police identified the slain militant commander as Abu Zaid alias Abu Zair alias Abu Zubair of Bahawalpur, Pakistan. His accomplice was identified as Gowhar Ahmed Thokar alias Zubair son of Muhammad Hussein Thokar of Chaki Chollan Shopain.Police sources said that Gowhar joined Lashkar in March 2008 while Abu Zaid was a senior militant of the outfit. “Abu Zaid was operative in Lolab, Bandipora and Kangan area of North Kashmir. He was active since 2001 in Bandipora and Sopore areas of North Kashmir and was involved in the killing of a Territorial Army soldier at Bandipora in the year 2006. He was the master mind behind LeT operations in Sopore and Srinagar city. He also acted as the launching commander of Lashkar for North Kashmir since 2003,” police claimed. Troops claimed recovery of 2 AK-47 rifles, 2 magazines and some quantity of ammunition from the encounter site.Talking to Rising Kashmir, Brigadier U K Grung termed the killing of two militants as a setback to Lashkar Toiba. “The movement of militants is now confined to the forests and the upper reaches of the district. We are following their movement and trapping them before they enter the town or rural areas,” he added.GulmargA tourist hailing from Uttar Pradesh and a 13 year old pony-wala were killed and six others injured in a powerful explosion at health resort of Gulmarg on Sunday.Police said the militants lobbed a hand grenade towards a parked vehicle near Telephone Exchange, Gulmarg. “The grenade rebounded from the vehicle and exploded on the road, causing on spot death of a tourist, Ashok Kumar son of Ram Shankan of Utter Pradesh. Eight persons including a tourist were also injured and were hospitalised,” police said.One of the critically injured identified as Mohmmad Yousf son of Jalal-ud-Din of Baba Reshi died in Sub District Hospital, Tangmarg. He was a pony-wala.The injured identified as Joginder Singh, Joginder Swami, Parkhair Tiwari, Mohammad Yousuf Chouhan and Parvez Ahmad are undergoing treatment in SDH Tangmarg and SMHS, Srinagar. The blast created caused panic among the tourists and locals in the health resort and they ran for cover. SSP Baramulla, Anand Jain while confirming the killing of two persons said that investigations are going on to ascertain the nature of the blast.IGP operations, North Kashmir, B Srinivas and DC Baramulla Basir Khan rushed to spot to review the situation. No militant group has owned the responsibility of the blast. This is the third explosion in Valley in as many days. On Friday, militants targeted a CRPF vehicle in Banihal, injuring 35 persons including six troopers. On Saturday, Hizbul militants blow up an army vehicle, killing nine soldiers and injuring others. SrinagarPolice and army cordoned off Nagbal area in Ganderbal after militants opened fire and hurled grenades on vehicles passing through the road on Sunday evening, police said.SP Ganderbal Razak Khan said soon after the firing and grenade blast, police and 5 RR sealed the entire area of Nagabal and launched combing and search operations. “During initial contact, there was an exchange of fire. The intermittent firing is going on,” said SP, adding, “It is dark now and we may suspend operation and resume it on Monday morning.”CRPF spokesman, Prabhakar Tripathi said that no attack has taken place on Yatris in the area. Meanwhile, the encounter between militants and troopers is going on at Wadarbala, Handwara in border district of Kupwara.Police said that on specific information, 21 RR and SOG Handwara personnel cordoned off the dense forest area of Wadarbala. “During the search operation, militants hiding in the forests opened fire on the search party, triggering a fierce gunfight”, police said.Police said the heavy exchange of gunfire between troopers and militants was going on till late evening. There were no reports of any causality so far