J&K: After brief gunbattle, security forces recover light machine gun

“It seems the militants ran away during the initial firing itself,” a Jammu and Kashmir Police spokesperson said Saturday.

After searches were conducted by the security forces, said police officials, “one PIKA LMG and material for making IED was found from the house.”

A senior police officer in South Kashmir told The Indian Express that among the escaped militants was one codenamed Waleed, a foreigner who has been active in the area for the last three years.

Sources said no ammunition for the LMG was found. “The case is being investigated further,” said the source.

The recovery of the weapon has caused a flutter in the security establishment in Srinagar. “After a long time, we have recovered such a heavy weapon from a gunfight in the hinterland. It is definitely a worrying sign and unusual,” said a police officer. “In the past, the weapon has been recovered whenever a hideout was busted, but first time such type of recovery has been made during a gunfight.”

In Kashmir, heavy weapons like PIKA were available with militants only decades ago, during the first few years of the initial eruption of militancy.