2 militants killed, 22 injured in J&K gunfight
Srinagar, July 10 : Two militants were killed while 20 civilian protesters and two soldiers were injured on Tuesday in a gunfight in Jammu and Kashmir's Shopian district, police said.
The father of one of the rebels died of shock after hearing that his son was trapped in the hideout.
The two militants were killed in Kundalan village after they opened fire on security forces, triggering a gun battle. "The identity of the militants is being established," a police officer said.
As civilians poured out of their homes and clashed with the security forces during the fighting, security personnel fired tear gas and pellet gunshots to prevent any disruption in the operations, leading to at least 20 injuries.
A doctor at a hospital where the injured civilians were shifted said one of the youths had a gunshot injury in his leg. Two soldiers, including a Junior Commissioned Officer, injured in the gunfight were shifted to the Army's 92 Base Hospital here.
Muhammad Ishaq Naikoo, the father of Zeenat, who had just joined the militant ranks, was declared dead on arrival at a hospital. Naikoo suffered cardiac arrest.
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New govt in Maharashtra to be formed on Dec 5, Fadnavis frontrunner for CM post: BJP leader
Mumbai (PTI): Mahayuti alliance's new government in Maharashtra will be formed on December 5 with Devendra Fadnavis emerging as the frontrunner to become the next chief minister again, a senior BJP leader said on Saturday.
In the November 20 Maharashtra assembly polls, the Mahayuti alliance of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena and Ajit Pawar's Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) retained power, pocketing a whopping 230 of the 288 assembly seats. The BJP emerged as the single largest party, winning 132 seats, followed by Shiv Sena with 57 and NCP with 41 seats.
However, even after the announcement of poll results a week ago (on November 23), the formation of the government has been delayed as the tripartite alliance is yet to decide on who will be the next chief minister. Shinde, Fadnavis and Pawar met BJP president J P Nadda and Union minister Amit Shah late Thursday to discuss a power-sharing pact for the next government.
A key Mahayuti meeting scheduled on Friday was put off and likely to take place on Sunday now as caretaker Chief Minister Eknath Shinde headed to his native village in Satara district, delaying government formation further.
The BJP leader, who did not wish to be quoted, said the swearing-in of the new government will take place on December 5.
Senior BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis, who was the chief minister twice and deputy chief minister in the last government, is the frontrunner for the top post, the leader said.
Another senior BJP leader said the chief minister's swearing-in ceremony will take place at Azad Maidan in south Mumbai.
But before that, a meeting will be held on December 2 to pick the BJP legislature party leader, he said.
Caretaker CM Shinde has made it clear that he will fully support BJP leadership's decision to name the next CM, and that he won't be a hurdle in the process, while Ajit Pawar-led NCP has backed Fadnavis for the chief minister's post.
In the assembly elections, Congress-led Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) suffered a setback. The grand old party registered one of its worst performances in the state assembly polls after it won only 16 seats. Sharad Pawar's NCP (SP) could bag only 10 seats, whereas Uddhav Thackeray's (UBT) won 20.
