SRINAGAR: Militants killed four soldiers yesterday in an ambush outside Srinagar, the main city of Kashmir, sparking a gun battle in which one rebel also died, local officials said.
The soldiers were searching for militants during a patrol when they were ambushed in the village of Hardu Buchoo, 30 kilometres southeast of Srinagar near the forested area of Tral, an army spokesman said.
“The militants fired at the soldiers from outside the village, when the cordon was laid,” Lieutenant Colonel Ankur Vasisht of the Srinagar-based 15 Corps said.
“Four of our soldiers were killed,” Vashist said.
The rebels fled into the forest and the army called in reinforcements to encircle the area and try to capture them.
Three soldiers were killed in the ambush and a soldier injured in the ensuing gun battle later died, a police official said.
“One militant involved in the attack was also killed during the encounter. We are ascertaining his identity,” Abdul Gani Mir, Kashmir’s police chief, said.
The ambush comes a day after government forces killed a top militant from outlawed group Lashkar-e-Taiba in Srinagar during an early morning gun battle.
Militants killed four police in April in an ambush, while a group of militants disguised as cricketers gunned down five paramilitary police in March in Srinagar.
Kashmir has been tense since the execution in February of Mohammed Afzal Guru, a local man, over a deadly 2001 attack on the parliament in New Delhi.
AFP
