Army jawan, 3 others injured in Rajouri gunbattle

Jammu, Aug 16 (PTI) An Army jawan was killed and three others, including a major injured, in the gunbattle between militants and security forces in Rajouri district which entered the third day today. Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), Rajouri, R K Jalla told PTI that a fierce gunbattle was going in the Shara Wali forest belt in Thanamnadi tehsil of the district.

Additional forces have been rushed to the area and the cordon strengthened to prevent the militants from fleeing. In the gunbattle, an Army jawan was killed and three others including a major were injured, he said The deceased Army jawan has been identified as Sepoy S K Singha, while the injured have been identified as Major Susheel Mahapatra of 38 Rashtriya Rifles, Special Police official Iftikhar Malik and civilian Abdul Razak.
Two Lashker-e-Tioba militants were killed and constable Nasir Ahmed was injured in the gunbattle in the area yesterday. The militants were identified as Sajjad Kashmiri and Abu Qamran.
One of the militants still in the cordon has been identified as a top Pakistani militant codenamed as "Doctor". Acting on a tip off, troops of Rashtriya Rifles and police had launched a cordon and search operation in the forest belt on Saturday afternoon, IGP, Jammu Zone, Ashok Gupta said.
He said militants, hiding in the forests and maize fields, fired on the operation party.The security forces returned the fire leading to an encounter.
The slain militants are believed to be part of a group involved in the attack on a passenger bus at Der-Ki-Gali area in the district on Wednesday last in which two civilians were killed and 18 others, including two jawans, injured.