A Special Police Officer (SPO) of Jammu and Kashmir police was martyred while another policeman injured in an encounter with terrorists in Baramulla district on Tuesday. This was the first encounter between security forces and terrorists ever since the abrogation of Article 370 on August 5.
A terrorist was also gunned down during the encounter and arms and ammunition were recovered. His identity and affiliation are yet to be ascertained. The martyred SPO was identified as Bilal. The injured sub-inspector, Amardeep Parihar, has been admitted to a hospital.
The firing, which began at around 5 pm in Old Baramulla continued through the night. The area was cordoned off for the public. The J&K police took to Twitter to inform that the encounter was over, at around 5 am on Wednesday.
Baramulla update: Encounter is over. One terrorist killed. Identity being ascertained. Arms and ammunition recovered. Our colleague SPO Billal attained martyrdom. SI Amardeep Parihar injured in the incident is being treated at Army Hospital.@JmuKmrPolice
— Kashmir Zone Police (@KashmirPolice) August 21, 2019
Kashmir valley has been by and large peaceful apart from stray incidents of stone-pelting and protests since August 5. The number of ceasefire violations by Pakistan across the LoC have increased, however, over the past week after a lull in the first fortnight of August.
(With agency inputs.)
