Poonch: Firing resumes between militants, security forces at mini secretariat building

An encounter between holed up militants and security forces in Poonch is yet to end as there was fresh exchange of fire between the two sides at the mini secretariat building Monday morning.

Sources said that there appears to be some militants still present inside the building as they have started firing at intermittent intervals since the early hours of Monday. Security forces and police were retaliating, and drones are being used to ascertain exact location of militants to pin them down, sources said.

Three militants were killed and an elderly couple, held hostage, rescued during day-long encounters at two separate locations by police and security forces in the border township, on Sunday. A police constable was killed, while five others, including two policemen, two army men, and a civilian, were injured.

Army personnel take positions near a building where militants were hiding during an encounter near the under construction mini-secretariat at Allah Pir area on Sunday.

Recently-promoted Inspector General of Police Johny William, who is still holding charge as DIG Rajouri-Poonch zone, had, on Sunday evening, said that though three militants have been killed and firing from their side stopped, the operation has not yet been concluded. While they had cleared the private building adjacent to the Army Brigade Headquarters by Sunday night, after the killing of one militant and rescuing hostages there, the search inside the mini secretariat building was incomplete as security forces and police suspected the presence of some more militants there.

Two groups of militants had struck Poonch town on Sunday, with one holding an elderly couple hostage inside a private residential building adjacent to Army’s Brigade Headquarters and another firing at police and security forces from inside the under construction mini secretariat building situated opposite to the office of Poonch district police chief.

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Source:The Indianexpress