Srinagar: At least four army men and a police officer were injured in an ongoing gun battle in Jammu and Kashmir’s Kulgam district, officials said on Saturday.
The gun battle erupted in the wee hours at Adigam Devsar Kulgam when joint forces were carrying out a cordon and a search operation following an input about militant presence in the area.
“The CASO turned into an encounter when hiding terrorists opened indiscriminate firing, and in the fire, four army men and an Additional Superintendent of Police (ASP) were injured,” a security official said. “ The injured were immediately shifted to the medical facility, and the condition of the injured is stated to be stable.”
Soon after the encounter broke, additional reinforcements were inducted to ensure a tight cordon.
Sources said the two militants are believed to be hiding in the area.
Earlier in a post on X, J&K police said, “ Encounter has started at Adigam Devsar area of Kulgam. Police and security forces are on the job.
The gun battle broke out a day after police in south Kashmir’s Awantipora subdistrict arrested six suspected militant associates and recovered Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs), arms and ammunition, and other incriminating materials from their possession.
Giving details, the police said they got specific input that a Pakistan-based Kashmiri militant of the Jaish-e-Mohammad outfit was in the process of identification of youth who can be motivated to join militant ranks, and after finding such youth, arms and ammunition and explosives were being delivered to these youth to commit terror acts before their formal joining into terror ranks .
Upon this information, a case was registered at Police Station Tral.
“During investigation, the youth who were part of this module were identified. It came to fore that Pakistan-based terrorists, with the assistance of an OGW in jail, identified many youth who were motivated by them to join terror ranks in Tral area of Awantipora and Kulgam district,” police said.
“The youth so identified were provided pistols, grenades, IEDs, and other explosive materials to facilitate their joining into terror ranks. Before inducting them into terror ranks, they were instructed to do some terror activity either by target killing, throwing grenades on SFs/public places , non-local labourers and by laying and detonating IEDs,” the police spokesman said.
Police said during investigations, it also came to fore that a Pakistan-based terrorist handler had chosen some places for the planting of IEDs with the assistance of these youth.
“The terrorist handler has also pumped in some money to carry out the tasks and to procure material for fabrication of more IEDs. So far, six terrorist associates have been arrested in the case, and from possession and upon disclosures of these accused persons, a large quantity of arms, ammunition, and explosives, including five IEDs with remotes, 30 Detonators, 17 Batteries for IEDs, two pistols, three magazines, 25 live rounds of Pistol, four hand grenades, and a cash amount of Rs 20,000, have been recovered,” police said, adding that the investigation of the case is underway and more arrests and recoveries are likely in the case.
