Kupwara: The death toll in the Halmatpora encounter in the Kupwara district has mounted to 10 with the killing of five heavily armed militants and exactly the same number of personnel martyred.
The martyrs included three army soldiers and two cops of Jammu and Kashmir police whom wreath-laying ceremony was today organized.
IGP, Kashmir SP Pani this morning told the reporters that the encounter is at a controlled stage now and searches are being conducted at many places.
He further said that huge cache of arms and ammunition was also recovered from the encounter site and all the militants seemed to be foreign militants.
On the question of their affiliation, IG Pani said that prima facie it appears they are related to Lashkar-e-Taiba but it has not been confirmed yet and it will be ascertained only after an inquiry.
It is imperative to mention here that during the encounter which raged on Tuesday after a joint CASO was launched in Kupwara, four militants were killed on first night however on the second day, five personnel from the forces were martyred while a militant was also neutralized.
The operation was aided by the Army’s Para Commandos
In a press release issued by the Department of Information read that Chief Minister, Mehbooba Mufti, paid rich tributes to the four Police and Army personnel who were killed in Halmatpora Kupwara gunfight today.
She expressed solidarity with the bereaved families of the deceased and prayed for peace to the departed souls.
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