3 militants believed dead in Handwara gunbattle         

Early Times Report

SRINAGAR, May 25: In a 24-hour-long gunbattle between militants and security forces, three militants are believed dead even as only one dead body had been recovered from the debris of a destroyed hideout at Shatigam, Handwara, till late tonight.

Informed sources in North Kashmir told Early Times that troops of rashtriya Rifles 21 Bn and 52 Bn launched an operation, alongwith Handwara police, after receiving specific information regarding presence of three militants at a hide in Ganai Mohalla, Shatigam, near Laribal in Zachaldara area of handwara, late last evening. During the operation, a fierce gunbattle took place between the troops and holed up militants that continued for about 24 hours and subsided this evening.

Sources said that all three militants of the group were believed dead as troops destroyed the hideout. Four adjoining residential houses and structures reportedly caught fire and suffered extensive damage. Officials, however, maintained that only one house of Abdul Rasheed Ganai had gutted and dead body of one militant, with one AK-56 rifle, was recovered.

Troops were confident that all three holed up militants had got killed. According to them, there was no collateral damage during the gunbattle. Identities of the militants killed and their organizational affiliation was not available immediately, though reports described one of the three as a Pakistani commander of Lashkar-e-Tayyiba.

Significantly, arms and ammunition recovered from the debris included at least one sophisticated GPS unit that was being used by militants for the purpose of navigation through satellite.

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