The fierce gunbattle between the Army and militants that started on Tuesday evening at Pattan entered its third day today. While the casualty figures remained the same, more than 10 houses were completely gutted in the over 50-hour long encounter. Defence spokesman Col Manjinder Singh said that the body of one more militant was recovered on Thursday, confirming the number of militants killed in the encounter to be two. “So far we have killed two militants while three of our jawans died,” he said. “We are searching for more militants who may be hiding inside the village.” Till last reports came in, the encounter was still on. As the sun shone over Saidpora village of Pattan, the morning lull was broken by militant firing and soldiers resumed their operation. In the heavy exchange of fire, more than 10 houses were gutted. The Army, however, said that only four houses were damaged. The encounter started on Tuesday evening when soldiers of 29 Rashtriya Rifles, acting on specific information about the presence of militants, cordoned off Saidpora village and launched an operation to flush out the militants. As the soldiers moved towards the village, militants hurled a grenade and opened fire on them. The grenade fell inside an Army vehicle injuring three soldiers. Soon, the militants spread across the village and took position in different houses. A militant and three soldiers were killed on Wednesday while another militant was killed on Thursday.
