At least four Indian soldiers and a Kashmiri youth were killed in a gun battle against Kashmiri fighters in the Pulwama district, where 41 troops were killed by a suicide bomber last Thursday. According to media reports, one soldier was critically injured in the crossfire.
An Indian police officer told AFP on condition of anonymity that “Four soldiers were killed and another one is injured in the shootout”.
The gunfight started late Sunday night after security forces, including the Rashtriya Rifles (RR), Special Operations Group (SOG) of the state police and the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), surrounded Pinglena village upon receiving a tip-off that Jaish-e-Muhammad(JeM) militants were hiding in the area.
A total of 500,000 soldiers of Indian Army are still in Kashmir. A massive haunt for Kashmiri fighters is launched by Indian forces, after the Pawluma attack which killed 49 CRPF soldiers.