Jammu and Kashmir: Soldier killed in gunfight with suspected militants in Poonch
One militant was killed in a gunfight in Kupwara’s Kowut on Wednesday.
An Indian Army soldier was killed as troops foiled an infiltration attempt by suspected militants from across the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir’s Poonch district on Tuesday.
The soldier was identified as Lance Naik Subhash Chander. “Indian Army offers deepest condolences and stands firm with the bereaved family in this hour of grief,” said the Army’s additional directorate general of public information.
The soldiers foiled the infiltration bid by engaging the suspected militants in a gunfight in the Battal sector of Poonch at 3 am, the Army said earlier on Tuesday.
Jammu and Kashmir has seen at least eight militant attacks so far in July.
On Wednesday, the Army’s Chinar Corps unit said that one militant was killed and a non-commissioned officer was injured in a gunfight in Kupwara’s Kowut.
The soldiers had challenged “suspicious movement” in the general area of Kowut on Wednesday, the Army said. In response, the militants opened indiscriminate fire.
The Chinar Corps had launched a joint search operation along with the Jammu and Kashmir Police in Kowut based on input about the presence of suspected militants in the area. The operation was in progress, the Army said.
This came two days after a militant was killed, and a soldier and a civilian sustained injuries in a gunfight in Rajouri district, The Indian Express reported.
On July 18, two Army personnel were injured in a gunfight with suspected militants in a forest village of Doda district. This had come three days after four Army personnel were killed in a gunfight with militants in Desa forest of the district.
On July 7, one soldier was injured after an Army camp in the Rajouri district was attacked by militants. A day later, four Army personnel were killed and six others were injured in Kathua district after militants threw a grenade and fired at Army vehicles that were patrolling the Machedi-Kindli-Malhar.
Two soldiers and six militants were also killed in two separate gunfights in Kashmir division’s Kulgam district between July 6 and July 7.
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