Four soldiers were killed in a gunfight in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district, police said on Monday. 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.
"As the cordon was tightened, the holed-up militants fired triggering the gunfight," police sources said, adding that a search operation is ongoing at the site. The victims included an officer.
The gunfight comes less than a week after 49 CRPF troopers were killed on February 14 after their convoy was targeted by a JeM suicide bomber on the Jammu-Srinagar highway in Pulwama.
According to the police sources, Sunday night's gunfight site is some 10 km away from the suicide attack spot.
Meanwhile, the CRPF on Sunday said some miscreants were putting up fake photographs of body parts of troopers, killed in the Pulwama attack, to spread "hatred", and appealed people to not share or 'like' such posts.
"It has been noticed that on social media some miscreants are trying to circulate fake pictures of body parts of our martyrs to trigger hatred. Please do not circulate, share or 'like' such photographs or posts," the CRPF said in a statement.
Such posts/pictures should be reported to webpro@crpf.gov.in, it added.
The CRPF also said "miscreants" were spreading "fake news" about harassment of students from Kashmir on social media.
"The CRPF helpline has enquired about complaints of harassment and found them incorrect. These are attempts to spread hatred. Please do not circulate such posts," it said.