Five LeT guerrillas killed in Kashmir gunfights

Srinagar, March 28 (IANS) Five Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) guerrillas were killed in two separate gunfights with security forces in Jammu and Kashmir's Kupwara district Wednesday, police said.

Three militants were killed in Kupwara's Zachaldara forest area, about 120 km from here, while two others hiding in a house were gunned down in Laribal village, police said.

Giving details, an official said security forces, acting on a tip-off, surrounded the Zachaldara forest and challenged the militants hiding there to surrender. 'At this, they opened automatic gunfire on the security forces triggering a gunfight which ended with the death of three LeT militants.'

The second incident saw security forces taking on militants hiding in a house in Laribal village.

While the bodies of the three guerrillas killed in Zachaldara were found, the bodies of the other two were still under the debris of the village house that was destroyed in the exchange of gunfire.

There was no official confirmation on whether the slain guerrillas had recently infiltrated from across the Line of Control (LOC), dividing Kashmir between India and Pakistan, or had been part of the guerrilla group already operating in the Valley.