Troops hunt for militants hiding in Kashmir forest

Army, paramilitary and police forces on Thursday moved reinforcements to cordon off Khrew forest in south Kashmir’s Pulwama district to nab suspected militants holed up in the area, a police official said.

"We believe the militants are still hiding in the area though they have moved deeper into the forest. We have reinforced the cordon and searching is continued," a senior police officer told IANS here.

The officer said that one militant has been killed in a three-day operation in the forest area where at least 10 heavily armed insurgents are believed to be hiding. The killed separatist guerrilla was identified as Mudasir, an expert bomb maker of the Lashkar-e-Toiba, he said.

Reports on Wednesday said that army helicopters have been deployed in the area to hunt down the hiding guerrillas. "The troops are searching the forest area, though there has been no contact with the militants today (Thursday)," the officer added.

Operations are also on in Zachaldara forest area in north Kashmir’s Kupwara district where the security forces have so far killed three LeT militants including a top commander.