Woman, militant killed in Udhampur gunfight

Jammu, June 13: A woman and a militant were killed in a shootout between security forces and separatist guerrillas in Udhampur district of Jammu and Kashmir in which five other people were injured on Monday.

Three CRPF troopers and two civilians were injured in the attack. The gunfight took place on the Jammu-Srigar tiol highway after the forces laid an ambush at Kud town, some 110 km from Jammu city, following intelligence inputs that some militants were travelling in a passenger bus on the tiol highway.

The vehicle was stopped near Kud town which is famous for its sweets shops, and “two militants heavily armed disembarked from a passenger bus and opened fire at the security forces and in an exchange of fire one militant was killed and a woman also lost her life in the cross fire,” a security official told IANS here. Security forces have started combing the area and reinforcements have been rushed there to ensure that the surviving militant did not escape, the official added.

The attack comes nearly a year after militants ambushed a Border Security Force convoy in Udhampur, killing two personnel and injuring a dozen troopers. On Sunday, four policemen were injured in a militant attack in south Kashmir’s Qazigund. At least five attacks were carried out by militants in the past two weeks in Kashmir valley, inflicting casualties on security forces. (IANS)