( With Pics),Suhail A Shah,Anantnag, January 20

A militant was killed in an encounter here in Pulwama district while a civilian died in the subsequent clashes on Wednesday. The police have said 15 of their men, including a senior officer, were also injured in the clashes.The militant has been identified as Shakir Ahmad, a resident of Bandina village in Pulwama district. The slain civilian has been identified as Parvez Guroo, a resident of Batpora village in the Naayina area of the south Kashmir district.A police spokesperson said the encounter was triggered late Tuesday night. The security forces cordoned off Batpora village about 9:30 pm following inputs of militant presence in the area. While the forces were zeroing in on a residential house where militants were believed to be holed up, the latter opened fire on them.“The fire was duly retaliated, triggering an encounter,” said a senior police officer from the area. There was, however, a lull in the exchange of fire till about 2 am, when the fire fight resumed again.Meanwhile, the police spokesperson said, around 50 people stranded at a local mosque in the wake of gun fight were rescued and taken to safety by the police.Local sources said the exchange of fire continued till 10:30 in the morning, after which the security forces blew up the house and the militant hiding in it was killed.An army spokesperson told The Tribune that an AK-47 and other war-like stores were retrieved from the encounter site.Meanwhile locals, in hundreds, came out and clashed with security personnel to try and give a safe passage to the “trapped” militants. Police sources said there might have been other militants present at the site of the encounter but owing to protests and clashes, they might have managed to escape.As the fire fight came to a halt and the body of the militant was retrieved, protesters kept swelling and the clashes continued. “Hundreds of rioters attacked our jawans and injured more than 15 of our men, including a senior officer who is undergoing treatment at a Srinagar hospital,” said Pulwama SSP Tejinder Singh.The police used tear-smoke shells and fired in the air to disperse the agitated protesters.Singh said in the ensuing chaos a stray bullet must have hit the civilian protester and “unfortunately he succumbed to the injury.” Three other civilians have received bullet injuries and they have been shifted to Srinagar, where their condition is stated to be stable.Meanwhile, clashes intensified in the area after the civilian killing and police had a tough time keeping the law and order situation under control.

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TRAIN SERVICES SUSPENDED

BATOTE: Commuters travelling between Banihal and Srinagar faced a lot of inconvenience on Wednesday as train services were suspended due to the clashes in the Bijbehara area of Anantnag following the killing of a local militant in Pulwama. “Since the house of the militant killed in the encounter is near a railway track, villagers sat on the dharna on the track. Due to the deteriorating law and order situation, we had to suspend the train service between Banihal and the rest of the Valley for a day,” said Chief Controller, Railways, Nand Kumar.

Rail service suspended

• Train services were suspended on Wednesday due to the clashes in Bijbehara following the killing of a militant in Pulwama. “Since the house of the slain militant is near a railway track, villagers sat on dharna on the track. Due to the deteriorating situation, we had to suspend the train service between Banihal and the rest of the Valley for a day,”said Chief Controller, Railways, Nand Kumar.