Srinagar,(Sofi Jahangir): Three militants, a civilian woman were killed, while one Deputy Commandant of CRPF was injured in a midnight gunfight that raged between the militants and government forces, in the heart of Srinagar city’s Batmaloo on Thursday.
An official told that,forces had received credible inputs that a group of militants is hiding in Batmaloo area of Srinagar, after which a joint team of Jammu and Kashmir Police, CRPF and Army laid a siege of the area by around 2.30 am to flush out them from their hideout.
He said, “As the combined team of forces was zeroing on the specific spot, where militants were believed to be hiding, they came under a volley of fire from the militants.”
“In the initial exchange of fire a civilian lady was killed, while a Deputy Commandant of CRPF received serious bullet injuries,” he added.
“The civilian lady killed in the gunfight has been identified as Kousar Riyaz of the same Batmaloo locality, who in the bid to escape from the spot, where firing was going on, in a Santro car along with her son was caught in the cross fire and was killed after she received a bullet in her head, to which she succumbed”, he said.
“While the injured force’s personnel was shifted to hospital, the cordon around the house was tightened and the fire was retaliated and in the ensuing gunfight all the three militants, hiding in the house were eliminated,” the official added.
Meanwhile, Director General of Police Dilbagh Singh, in a hurriedly conducted press conference told reporters that all the militants killed in the encounter are local boys from South Kashmir.”
He said, “They were given a chance to surrender, but they refused and engaged our forces in a gunfight, in which all the three militants were killed.”
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“While commenting on the killing of woman he said, “the woman was killed in the cross fire, which is unfortunate and our sympathies are with the bereaved family,” he added.
Meanwhile the family of the slain woman has rejected the claim and has said that the death of the woman was as result of killing by the government forces.
The son of the slain woman Sofi Aqib told reporters that, "he along with his mother was trying to retreat from the encounter site in their Santro car, after his frightened mother insisted me to drive back to home, forces fired upon us from behind indiscriminately and one of the bullet pierced through the head of my mother sitting next to my driving seat and leading to her death on spot" Said Aqib.
Pointing towards his blood soaked clothes he said, “I cried for help, but no one came forward to help me, till my mother died in my lap.”
Photo Credits: Umar Ganie