Jammu & Kashmir: Three army men, three civilians and four militants killed in encounter

SRINAGAR: A day ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s second election rally in Jammu & Kashmir, militants barged into a deserted army bunker near the border town of Arnia and killed three soldiers and three civilians. Four militants were also killed in the fierce gun battle that ensued. “We are outside the second cordon and have not visited the post because firing is still on,” inspector Jitender Singh, who heads the police station in Arnia, said. “There are casualties which we will confirm once we receive the bodies.”

Arnia, which is very close to the Pakistani border, has been the scene of frequent shelling, with most of its population moving out of the area in August-September after five died in Pakistani shelling. The operation, police said, is still on and security forces are scanning the belt to ensure that no saboteurs are around. There’s some uncertainty about how many militants formed the group, with some locals claiming that there were around eight militants.

The attack assumes significance because Modi is expected to visit Udhampur and Poonch on Saturday to campaign for BJP for the second of the five-phase elections in which more than a million voters are expected to participate on Tuesday.