SRINAGAR -Five more Indian soldiers, including two officers, have been killed in a gun battle raging in a mountain pass near the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir since Monday. One militant, too, has been killed in the duel. With these killings the toll in what has been termed by the military officials as the biggest clash of the year between the two sides in the restive Himalayan state has risen to 18, including 12 militants.The gun battle along Nasthachun pass in Karnah area of northwestern Kupwara district started on Monday and was still going on as reports last came in, officials said adding that 11 militants and a junior commissioned officer (JCO) of the army had died during the first three days of the fighting.
Troops from 20 Rashtriya Rifles and 16 JAT who were involved in the operations initially have been joined by reinforcements from these and other formations as the militants who seem to be part of a large group have tactically dotted the nearby woods, reports said. The identity of the slain militants is being ascertained, officials said.
In Srinagar, a police spokesperson said that a Jaish-e-Mohammed militant, Shabir Ahmad alias Arsalan, was killed and his accomplice who could not be identified but is believed to be a non-Kashmiri was injured in an encounter at Barapora in southern Pulwama district yesterday.