Kashmir back under clampdown after 7 militants, cop killed

Security forces again resorted to firing in Jammu and Kashmir's Poonch this morning, where three terrorists were killed in an encounter with security forces on Sunday. Seven terrorists were killed in four separate encounters in the state on Sunday; a policeman also died in the gun battle.

Restrictions which had been briefly eased in the Valley last week were imposed again today.

The three terrorists killed on Sunday had been holed up inside an under-construction government building close to an Army camp.

One policeman died and another was injured after they came under fire while trying to cordon off the building. An elderly couple who had been taken hostage was also rescued after a day-long fierce gun battle.

In another encounter near the Line of Control in Nowgam Sector in north Kashmir, the Army killed four terrorists, believed to be Pakistanis. Two other infiltration attempts were foiled in Tangdhar and Gurez sectors.

The encounter in Nowgam started after the Army intercepted a heavily-armed group of terrorists trying to infiltrate. Four AK-47 rifles and a large cache of ammunition were recovered from the site of encounter.

Dozens of people, meanwhile, were injured after a joint team of security forces carried out raids at Pulwama's Karimabaf village. Police confirmed that 25 villagers were injured during clashes and have been shifted to hospitals.

Villagers say a large number of residential houses were ransacked during the raids. The Army, paramilitary forces and the police have jointly conducted the raids.

Two drivers were injured and 17 tankers damaged in alleged stone-pelting attacks by protesters in Kashmir, prompting the truckers to announce a strike from today.

In the evening, home minister Rajnath Singh chaired a high-level meeting on the situation in the state, which was attended by the National Security Adviser and intelligence chiefs.

Thousands of soldiers have been pushed into Kashmir since Friday to strengthen anti-terror operations, from which the focus had shifted following the outbreak of protests since the killing of terrorist Burhan Wani on 8 July.

Nearly 80 people have died and around 10,000 others were injured in Kashmir in clashes with security forces since Wani's killing, while normal life in the Valley remains crippled by a curfew for over two months.