Srinagar, March 04: An army officer and four Hizbul Mujahideen militants were killed in a fierce 30-hour-long gunbattle in Pulwama district of south Kashmir today, the second major operation in eight days.
The gunbattle broke out when militants hiding in a cluster of houses fired at a joint search party of police and troops of 42 Rashtriya Rifles in Mir Mohalla Dadasir, 40 kms from here, police said.
Captain Deepak Sharma was killed in the encounter that started yesterday in which three jawans and a policeman were also injured.
Bodies of all the four militants were recovered from the three houses that were razed during the operation. Three of them were identified as Midha, Shabir and Khalid, top commanders of HM in south Kashmir, Defence spokesman Lt Col J S Brar said.
Midha and Shabir had been active in terrorist activities for the past 15 years, Brar said.
–Agencies