Day after encounter, eight injured in blast in J-K’s Handwara
Ahgam village in Handwara where the explosion took place is about 3 km from the site of Saturday night’s encounter in which two terrorists and five security personnel including a colonel were killed.
Eight people including a few children were injured after an explosive object suspected to be an unexploded shell detonated in Handwara, about 70 km northwest of Srinagar around noon on Sunday, officials said.
The injured were taken to the Handwara District Hospital from where two of them were later shifted to Srinagar for advanced treatment, doctors at the hospital said.
Ahgam village where the explosion took place around noon is about 3 km from the site of Saturday night’s encounter in which two terrorists and five security personnel including a colonel were killed.
The village where the encounter took place has been sealed off and nobody is allowed to go near the village.
On Sunday, the army said in a statement that a security team successfully rescued hostages but lost five men in the operation.
Watch| Handwara encounter: Army Colonel among 5 martyred, 2 terrorists gunned down
“A team comprising five army and J&K Police personnel entered the target area occupied by the terrorists to evacuate the civilians. The team entered the target area and successfully extricated the civilians,” the statement said.
“However, during the process, the team was subjected to heavy volume of fire by the terrorists. In the ensuing firefight, two terrorists were eliminated and the team of five… comprising two army officers, two soldiers and one police sub-inspector attained martyrdom,” it added.