SRINAGAR, Sept 8: The weeklong anti-militant operation deep in northern Kashmir forests ended overnight, police said, the longest counter insurgency operations in recent past in the restive region where authorities claim that violence was at its lowest ebb ever since it started in 1989.
Two militant were killed and an army soldier wounded in the fierce battle that broke out last Friday in the forest area of Chattergul, Ganderbal, 40 kms from capital Srinagar.
“The search operation to locate more militants has been called off,” a senior police officer said.
The operation, conducted jointly by the police and Rashtriya Rifles unit of the Army, saw helicopters pressed into service to look for militants, who could be four to eight in number, according to reports.
Over recent months, there has been a spurt in militancy-related violence in Kashmir, where tens of thousands have died since the early nineties when an armed rebellion started.
Kashmir has seen booming tourist seasons for two consecutive years, which analysts say, were signs of normalcy returning to the valley.
But many others including chief minister Omar Abdullah are skeptical.
“I’m not suggesting that because we’ve had one million tourists here that it’s a sign of normality,” he said in an interview to The Guardian last month.
The fresh gunfight comes just more than a week after two militants escaped a cordon and gave slip to security forces at Brinal village of southern Kashmir’s Anantnag district.
