Two civilians amoung four killed in gun battle in IoK

SRINAGAR: A gun battle between separatist militants and security forces left four people dead and six injured in Indian Occupied Kashmir (IOK) on Saturday, police and hospital authorities said.

Those killed in the joint operation by the army and police in Dailigam village of Anantnag district included two civilians – one of them a woman – and two militants.

Indian army’s spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Rajesh Kalia claimed that the dead militants belonged to the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) militant group.



One of them, Bashir Ahmad, alias Bashir Lashkari, was on India's most-wanted list and had a one million rupee bounty on his head. The other was identified by the police as Azad Malik.

The gun battle broke out after the troops and the special counterinsurgency police surrounded a neighbourhood in southern Dialgam village, acting on a tip-off that the alleged militants were hiding in the area.

"The lady was killed while we were laying a cordon," Inspector General of Police Muneer Ahmed Khan told AFP.



The gun battle ended when the two alleged militants were killed, the local director general of police SP Vaid told AFP.

As gunshots were heard in the area, hundreds of villagers came out on to the streets shouting anti-India slogans and throwing stones at soldiers in their attempts to break the cordon and help the separatist escape.

Police said in a statement they rescued 17 people from the site of the gun battle but locals said the alleged militants, before being killed, let the civilians go themselves.


All Parties Hurriyat Conference Chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq condemned the killings and lashed out at unabated Indian authorities in IOK.

“While our youth are being selectively killed on the one hand, on the other the entire leadership has been caged and not even allowed to express sympathy and solace with the bereaved families,” he wrote on microblogging site Twitter.

“The ruling regime has crossed all limits of repression and killings.” He added that the imposition of curfews, restrictions and curbs has become an everyday affair in IOK.



Meanwhile, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s top foreign policy aide Sartaj Aziz has said that the campaign to highlight Indian brutalities in IOK would be intensified to draw the world attention towards the lingering dispute.

Speaking to journalists in Lahore on Saturday, Aziz said India was involved in blatant human rights violations in IOK but it could not suppress the voice of Kashmiris through the use of force.

“Pakistan firmly believes in the legitimacy of the Kashmir cause and supports the peaceful struggle of the Kashmiri people for their right to self-determination,” he added.



Aziz categorically stated that Kashmir was a disputed territory and the issue could only be resolved through dialogue.

(Agencies with additional reporting by our correspondent in Lahore)