7 civilians dead as militants’ explosives go off in JK's Kulgam

The incident happened at Laroo village in Kulgam district, one of the worst hit by militancy in South Kashmir on Sunday morning when security forces launched a search-and-cordon operation following intelligence report about the presence of militants.

The security forces made repeated announcements to the militants for surrender but instead they were fired upon. In the retaliatory fire, three militants of Jaish-e-Mohammed were killed.

As the security forces were carrying out routine clearance, they came under heavy stone pelting from a mob, which had cordoned off the encounter site. 

During the partial withdrawal of the security forces, the mob thronged the encounter site to gather remaining arms and ammunition, which is passed on later to militant groups, police alleged. During this, unexploded shells and grenades of militants went off killing one and injuring several others.