Two militants and an army soldier were killed in a gunfight at Pazalpora village in Rafiabad area of northern Baramulla district on Friday.
The gunfight broke out in the wee hours after army’s 22 Rashtriya Rifles, special operations group of Jammu and Kashmir police and 92 battalion Central Reserve Police Force launched a joint cordon-and-search operation in Pazalpora, falling under jurisdiction of district police lines Sopore.
Senior superintendent of police Sopore Javid Iqbal confirmed the killing of two militants who, he said, were yet to be identified.
“The operation was launched following specific inputs about presence of some militants in the area,” he told reporters after the encounter.
A soldier—naik Brijesh Kumar of 22 RR—who was injured earlier in the initial gunfight, succumbed at the 92 base military hospital in Srinagar, an official said.
The district authorities ordered closure of all educational institutions in Baramulla, Sopore and Rafiabad on Friday as a “precautionary measure” following the gun-battle.
Meanwhile, SSP Iqbal said people are “once again requested not to venture inside the encounter zone since such an area can prove dangerous due to stray explosive materials. People are requested to cooperate with police till the area is completely sanitised and cleared of explosive materials, if any.”
