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Army's Kargil spokesman
seriously injured

Mukhtar Ahmad in Srinagar and
Josy Joseph in New Delhi

A colonel in the Territorial Army was among five people killed in a fierce gun battle at Janglat Mandi in southern Anantnag district in Kashmir late on Thursday afternoon.

Five persons, including Brigadier Bikram Singh, who served as Army spokesman during the Kargil war in 1999, and three soldiers were critically injured in the incident. They have been airlifted to the base hospital at Badamibagh in Srinagar.

An Army spokesman in New Delhi confirmed that Colonel J P Jaanu, commanding officer of a Territorial Army battalion, was killed during the exchange of fire between militants and the military convoy.

Sources said militants opened indiscriminate fire on the heavily guarded motorcade. Brigadier Bikram Singh is in charge of counter-insurgency operations in Anantnag and adjoining areas.

The sources said the troops opened fire, killing three people. A civilian bystander was seriously wounded and has been rushed to hospital.

Paramilitary forces later moved into Janglat Mandi, which was cordoned off and massive searches mounted.

The sources said Brigadier Singh's condition is serious.

Only last week, heavily armed militants had ambushed a police vehicle at Kokernag in the same district, killing the station house officer and his five police guards. The incidents follow the recent three-month extension in the unilateral cease-fire in Kashmir.

The bodies of the two civilians were handed over to their relatives by the police on Thursday evening. Nearly 5,000 people took out a procession in Anantnag town, protesting against the killing.

They shouted pro-freedom and anti-ceasefire slogans.

The authorities have made elaborate security arrangements in the tension-ridden town.

A local resident reached by telephone said tension gripped the area following the firing. He said people ran helter-skelter.

A report from Jammu said militants ambushed a police party at Basholi village in Kathua district, killing two cops on the spot while six others were wounded.

The two seriously injured policemen were shifted to Jammu.

Police said militants hurled grenades and followed it by automatic weapons fire. The policemen were escorting a cash van.

Senior district police officers, along with reinforcements, went sent to the area, which is being searched.

The Kashmir ceasefire: The complete coverage

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