Terrorists attack search team in Kashmir, 8th gunfight in Nov

SRINAGAR : Kashmir valley recorded its eighth gunfight between terrorists and security forces this Nov, with suspected Pakistani gunmen firing at a search party of soldiers and J&K policemen approaching a hideout in Bandipora district ’s Nagmarg area Tuesday.

The security forces responded with retaliatory fire. No casualties or injuries have been reported on either side so far, and the operation is ongoing, an official said.

There has been an uptick in attacks and multiple fatalities since an elected govt assumed office in J&K after six years in mid-Oct. A JCO and two village defence guards were killed in Kishtwar on Nov 10 and 7, while an ambush near Gulmarg in Baramulla killed two soldiers and two civilian porters on Oct 24. In Shopian, a migrant worker from Bihar was fatally shot on Oct 18, followed by the murder of seven tunnel construction workers in Ganderbal on Oct 20.

The security counteroffensive resulted in the death of nine terrorists this month in Kashmir: two in Sopore’s Sagipora and Rajpura on Nov 8 and 9, one each in Bandipora and Kupwara on Nov 6, two in Bandipora on Nov 5, and Lashkar-e-Taiba commander Usman among three in Srinagar and Anantnag on Nov 2. Across J&K, the forces have gunned down at least 30 terrorists since May.