Kashmir: Four militants, a civilian shot in Kashmir

Four militants and one civilian were killed and three members of the army were wounded in three separate camps across the Kashmir valley. Three activists and a civilian teenager were killed at a subsequent meeting and protests in the Pulwama district of southern Kashmir.

Another activist was killed during a meeting in the Kupwara district of northern Kashmir and activists were throwing a grenade at an army patrol wounding three army members in the Shopian district in southern Kashmir.

In the Chatpora village of Pulwama, the J & K police group, the army and the CRPF acting on the presence of militants, launched a joint crackdown on Friday afternoon. During the search operation, activists opened fire triggering a meeting. Later, J & K's police chief, S P Vaid, confirmed that three militants had been killed at the meeting point.

The identity of the killed militants still had to be verified. As soon as the news of the meeting spread, the locals started demonstrating near the meeting site, during which several civilians were injured. A teenager killed during the protests was identified as Faizan Ahmad Khan of Pampore. At another meeting, J & K police officials reported that the armed forces and militants had exchanged fire at Tunga Top – the upper belt of the Kachama Forests in the Kupwara district north of Cashmere.

Later, the armed forces launched a search operation in the area and claimed to have recovered the body of a militant with a Kalashnikov rifle.