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Army captain and 5 top militants killed in Kashmir

Josy Joseph in New Delhi and Mukhtar Ahmad in Srinagar

An Indian Army captain and two soldiers were killed along with five hardcore militants in Rajouri sector of Kashmir in a fierce encounter that lasted over night till Wednesday morning.

Among the five militants killed is 'doctor,' a Pakistani national belonging to one of the Harkatul groups and wanted in several cases. The security agencies had been hunting him for the last six months.

According to the available information, Captain Amit Semwal and two other ranks were killed in the encounter that lasted for several hours. Troops of 16 Dogra were on a night search in Pohal Gai area, six kilometres north of Rajouri, when they encountered the heavily armed militants. One Universal Machine Gun and four AK rifles were recovered in the combing operations later.

Highly places Union home ministry sources told rediff.com that the security agencies have deliberately taken up a proactive operational step which could be the reason for the high casualties on both sides. ''Attacks on our camps will not deter our operations. In fact we will be stepping up our operations against militants,'' one source said.

In recent operations alone, according to estimates by the Army headquarters, 67 militants have been killed by security forces in the area south of Jawahar Tonnel, mostly in Anant Nag district. In the Valley the operations are a continuing process, and heavy casualties are being registered there too.

A record number of militants have been killed and arrested in the post-Kargil period by the Indian Army in Jammu and Kashmir. From August 1 to October 25, the Army killed 365 militants. The Army also arrested 64 militants in the same period while recovering 463 weapons.

Currently, Operation Shakti is going on in the forests of Rajwar in Kupwara district and along the higher reaches of the Pir Panjal ranges in Gulabgarh area of Udhampur district. It is aimed at flushing out the militants from their redoubts and to destroy their logistics to make their survival in winter difficult.

Meanwhile, in unabated separatist violence, militants in north Kashmir killed a deputy superintendent of police and attacked a heavily guarded army camp killing a soldier and wounding eight others.

The state government on Tuesday asked the police to be extra-vigilant and ensure that "no security lapse took place." The Minister of State for Home Mustaq Ahmad Lone who flew in here from Jammu reviewed the overall situation with top police officers in Srinagar. The minister "complimented the state police for its role in the present law and order situation."

The state Director General of Police Gurbachan Jagat has been holding discussions with senior officers here. He met all the police officers, including SPs of Srinagar city, and directed them to step up anti-militancy operations.

Militants late last night struck at village Palhallan, attacking the heavily guarded camp of the Special Operations Group of the state police with a rocket. In the attack DSP Kuldeep Singh died on the spot. The camp building was extensively damaged. Senior police and security forces officers rushed to the spot immediately.

The area around the camp including the national highway was sealed off and massive searches were conducted in the area. However no one was arrested. Officials admitted that the killing of Singh was a serious setback as he had led several successful operations in the militancy-infested Pattan area.

The home minister has called for a thorough probe into the attack on the SOG camp to ascertain if there "was any security lapse, so that the responsible officials are dealt with by the law.''

A group of heavily armed militants also attacked a camp of the Rashtriya Rifles at village Wattaragam in Sopore in north Kashmir with grenades and assault rifles resulting in the on-the-spot death of an army jawan and injuries to eight others. The injured jawans were rushed here for treatment.

Senior army officers visited the camp early this morning and ordered massive searches in the area. Till late this afternoon troops were busy conducting searches.

In other incidents, seven persons including four militants and a village headman were killed across the state in the past 24 hours.

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