Kashmir encounter: Civilian succumbs to injuries, death toll climbs to three

The death toll in the overnight antiterror operation in Anantnag district of Jammu and Kashmir rose to three as one of the two civilians injured in the encounter died on Sunday officials saidAbdul Rashid Dar who was injured in terrorist firing on Saturday succumbed to injuries in a hospital here early on Sunday the officials saidTwo Army personnel were killed while two civilians were injured in a fierce gunfight with terrorists in the Ahlan Gagarmandu forest area of the district at an altitude of 10000 feet on Saturday the officials addedThe operation to hunt down the ultras continued despite the challenging topographyThe firefight started on Saturday evening during a cordon and search operation that was initiated by the security forces based on intelligence reports indicating the presence of terrorists in the remote Ahlan Gagarmandu forest in the Kokernag beltAccording to officials a group of terrorists opened fire at the joint search parties comprising Army personnel including para commandos and local policeIn the ensuing gun battle six Army personnel and two civilians were injured officials said adding the injured soldiers were promptly taken to a nearby hospital where two succumbed shortly after arrivalThe slain army personnel have been identified as Havildar Dipak Kumar Yadav and Lance Naik Praveen SharmaReinforcements have been deployed in the area and operations to locate and neutralise the fleeing terrorists are underway the officials saidThis encounter is a grim reminder of a similar operation in the general area of Kokernag last September during which four security personnel including Colonel Manpreet Singh Major Ashish and Deputy SP Humayun Bhat were killed in the weeklong engagement with terroristsTwo terrorists including a senior commander of the LashkareTaiba LeT were also neutralised during that operationSecurity forces have ramped up their efforts in the woods of Kokernag after an encounter in Doda district on July 15 that resulted in the deaths of four soldiers including a captainIt is believed that the terrorists involved in the recent Anantnag incident may have crossed over from Kishtwar district after escaping the confrontation in DodaGiving details of the current operation a Srinagarbased defence spokesperson said that on August 5 it was confirmed through human and electronic means that terrorists responsible for atrocities in the Doda region in July have sneaked across the Kishtwar range into the KapranGarol area in south KashmirThe Rashtriya Rifles and the Jammu and Kashmir Police have relentlessly tracked these terrorists and precise operations were launched on the night of August 9 and 10 in the mountains in the east of Kapran where these terrorists were reportedly holed upSuspicious movement was observed at around 2 pm on August 10 Challenging by security forces was immediately responded by indiscriminate desperate and reckless firing from terrorists in which two Army personnel and two civilians in the vicinity were injured the spokesperson saidHe said the terror antecedents of the injured civilians are being ascertainedThe area is at an altitude of above 10000 feet has thick undergrowth large boulders nallahs and reentrants that pose a serious challenge to operations Security forces are moving deliberately and are in the process of hunting down the terrorists the spokesperson saidThe situation remains tense as security forces continue their pursuit of the terrorists in the areaWith PTI inputs