Soldier was martyred and four other got injured in an encounter against militants, who are holed up in a village in Shopian’s district. Gunfight broke out in Awneera village in Shopian, after security forces including CRPF, Rashtriya Rifles and Police rushed to the village based on intelligence inputs about presence of 2-3 terrorists holed up.
Police said injured soldiers have been rushed to hospital and the gunfight is still going on inside the village. Reports of stone pelting protesters clashing with security forces to break the cordon was also received. Seven civilians are reported to have sustained pellet injuries during the clashes and have been shifted to hospital for treatment. Police strongly denied rumours that a mosque was damaged during the gunfight between the security forces and the militants.
Presence of stone pelters and miscreants with malicious intent has lately increased, number of incidents have been reported of intrusion of stone pelters hindering the encounter operations. Recently linkage of some separatists leader , foreign funding from Pakistan and Stone Pelters association was exposed. Still government looks clueless on how to counter the stone pelters and the question arises if the government and security forces are ready to sacrifice their own to save stone pelters who are supporting terrorism and a rogue neighbor.
