Author: Reuters
Publication: The Indian Express
Date: October 3, 2008
URL: http://www.expressindia.com/latest-news/Weeklong-Kashmir-gunbattle-ends-13-militants-killed/369031/
A fierce gunbattle between Army and militants
in Kashmir has ended after a week, killing 14 people, the army said on Friday.
A soldier and 13 militants were killed in
the fighting, the longest battle in recent years, and Indian forces said they
had begun mop up operations after the firing stopped on Thursday.
"The operation is being conducted in
inhospitable, harsh and treacherous terrain at an altitude up to 15,000 ft
(4572 metres)," an army statement said.
The gunbattle began last Thursday in the Kagnan
area, north of Srinagar.
The army said that militants have been retreating
to the Himalayan plains due to the early onset of cold weather in the mountains
and clashes between Indian soldiers and militants fleeing their hideouts have
intensified.
In a separate incident on Friday, security
forces shot dead two members of Lashkar-e-Toiba, a Pakistan-based militant
group believed to be responsible for deadly attacks in Kashmir and elsewhere
in the country.
Police said another militant was killed on
Thursday night when soldiers fired at a group of infiltrators who tried to
slip into Kashmir from the Pakistani side.
