Azhar Qadri

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, July 11

An Army commando of the elite Special Forces was killed in a gunfight with militants during a search operation in north Kashmir’s Kupwara district on Wednesday.A civilian was killed when security forces fired at stone-pelters in Trehgam area of Kupwara district.  The soldier, identified by the police as Mukul Meena of 3 Parachute Regiment, a resident of Alwar in Rajasthan, was evacuated to a military hospital where he was declared “brought dead”. The Kupwara SSP,  Sriram Dinkar, said a search for militants was launched in Kandi forest area on Tuesday evening following a tip-off. “Since then, there has been intermittent firing and brief contacts with the militants.”  The entire forest area in the hinterland has been cordoned. The officer said it was yet to be ascertained whether the militants had infiltrated from across the Line of Control (LoC) recently or had been hiding there for a while. Infiltration into Kupwara has been on the rise in recent weeks with the Army killing 22 militants during the Ramadan ceasefire which ended mid-June. Two more were killed in the subsequent weeks. According to a senior Army commander, 250 to 275 militants are waiting to infiltrate into Kashmir in groups of 20 to 25 at different launch pads facing the area under the Srinagar-based 15 Corps.