Jammu and Kashmir government on Thursday ordered immediate replacement of the paramilitary Central Reserve Police Force personnel with state armed police in the Gagran camp of curfew-hit Shopian district.
The encounter broke out after terrorists hiding in a house opened indiscriminate fire on a joint search party of police and security forces at Khodwani, 70 km from Srinagar, police said.
The formal notification of handing over the case to the NIA is expected to be issued by the ministry soon, an official privy to the development said.
Normal life continued to remain affected in Kashmir for the 83rd straight day on Thursday due to the separatists' call for shut down.
After getting a green signal from the Supreme Court, Yechury said he will visit Jammu and Kashmir on Thursday to meet Tarigami.
No major clash was reported on Thursday from anywhere in Kashmir.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will campaign for the Bharatiya Janata Party in the second phase of assembly elections in Udhampur and Poonch districts of Jammu and Kashmir on November 28.
The militants had ambushed a BSF convoy at neighbouring Goriwan area at Bijbehara in South Kashmir killing three of its personnel.
Polling in the 16 assembly constituencies, including 10 in south Kashmir Anantnag and Kulgam districts and two each in Kishtwar, Ramban and Doda districts began this morning under heavy security.
Defying Hurriyat hardliner Syed Ali Shah Geelani's diktat to Kashmiris against joining police service in the Valley, thousands of youths have opted for the job of special police officer.
An army soldier was also injured in the encounter.
Fate of 271 candidates including two former chief ministers -- Mufti Mohammad Sayeed and Ghulam Nabi Azad -- would be sealed on Wednesday, as 16 constituencies of Jammu and Kashmir go to polls in the sixth round of the seven-phase assembly elections.As many as 20,000 additional security forces personnel and nearly 10,000 local policemen have been deployed at 1,268 polling stations set up in the 16 assembly seats spread over five districts.
Against the backdrop of the high voter turnout during the first phase of polling on November 17, election authorities in the state are gearing up by taking slew of measures for successful completion of remaining six phases, which will see 18 more districts going to the hustings.
Six policemen, including a sub-inspector, were killed at Achabal in Anantnag district of South Kashmir after terrorists ambushed a police party on Friday.
Local people, however, rushed to their rescue and informed the police, he said.
Kashmir continues to be paralysed for the third consecutive day in the wake of the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani in an encounter on Friday.
There's a virtual blackout in the Valley with few workable mobile phones and internet connections and prohibitory orders in place.
"We have killed the Hizbul Mujaheedin district commander Sajad Ahmed Bhat alias Tahir Maqsood and three other militants. With their elimination, we have almost wiped out the entire group of Hizbul militants operating in Kulgam," S M Sahai, Kashmir inspector general of police said.
A Pakistani militant belonging to the Lashkar-e-Tayiba outfit was among three killed in two separate encounters on Sunday in Jammu and Kashmir, where three militants remain holed up in a mosque.
"After a brief exchange of fire with security forces, the militants entered the village mosque," a senior office police official said.
The CM apprised the home minister about the steps taken to maintain peace in the Kashmir Valley
Ahead of the Parliament session, beginning Monday, the government is apparently aiming to build a consensus to deal with its biggest neighbour as well on Kashmir issue.
Three of the five civilians held hostage by militants came out safely on Monday evening even as security forces continued the siege around the mosque in south Kashmir's Palnu village, 80 km from Srinagar in Kulgam district.
The encounter broke out as security forces were conducting search operations in Puchal area of Awantipora and hots were heard from nearby Goripora village, an official said.
No group has so far claimed responsibility for the attack.
Ignoring the separatists' call to shun the vote, electors in the five districts emulated the trend seen in the first phase by turning up at polling booths in large numbers at 8 am, the scheduled start of voting. It turned out to be an impressive 71.28 per cent turnout in the second phase.
A huge cache of arms and ammunition were recovered from the possession of the slain ultras, whose identity was being ascertained. However, the documents recovered from them revealed their affiliation with LeT.
"As the troops moved in, they came under heavy fire from the militants hiding in a house. Reinforcements were immediately rushed to the area and the house was surrounded," a senior police officer said in Srinagar.
The Jammu and Kashmir government on Thursday ordered a magisterial probe into the killing of three persons in army firing at Qazigund
Lone and two others were identified by police as the masterminds behind the grenade attack.
During the interrogation, the militants confessed their involvement in the crime, he added.
Even as India battles the COVID-19 threat on a war footing, it cannot lose sight of the threat building up in Kashmir, cautions Lieutenant General Syed Ata Hasnain (retd).
The bodies of the three militants were recovered from the debris of the house at Arwani in Bijbehara area on Friday morning after security forces blew up the building using explosives, a police official said.
The MEPs said they stand by India in its fight against terrorism.
The necessary formalities were being completed in Jammu as well as in the national capital before the probe agency, which has been credited with breaking the nexus between stone-pelters and separatists in Jammu and Kashmir, takes over the case, officials said.
Wani laid down his life during an anti-terror operation at Shopian in Kashmir in November last year.
Militants on Tuesday night gunned down Ghulam Hassan Laway, a Communist Party of India (Marxist) activist, inside his house at Chowalgam in Anantnag district, official sources said.
Curfew continued in parts of Srinagar on Saturday in view of the separatists' call for occupying Lal Chowk and Airport Road here while curfew-like restrictions remained in force in rest of Kashmir even as normal life remained paralysed for the 57th day.
Here's a recap of events that occurred in India in the past 24 hours.
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