For the first time during the last two decades of militancy in J&K, the state police have killed an active woman militant belonging to Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) in Doda district on May 28. Her husband, a LeT cadre, was also killed during the encounter. The slain militants have been identified as Shabir Ahmed alias Abu Yasir and Samreena Bano. Though the first woman militant to die in the Valley was a burqa-clad suicide bomber who was blown to pieces when the IED she was carrying went off in Pulwama district in 2005, it was the first time that a female militant has been gunned down in an encounter1.

In the third incident in about eight months, two more Pakistan army soldiers were captured by Indian Army after they crossed over from the international border in Hamirpur Sidhar area in Akhnoor tehsil on June 4. However, as a goodwill gesture, the Indian Army returned both the soldiers on June 5 to Pakistani commanders after a flag meeting2.

• 1. “First J-K woman militant killed in encounter: cops,” The Indian Express, May 29, 2008, at http://www.indianexpress.com/story/315858.html
• 2. “Two Pak army soldiers held on IB at Khour,” Daily Excelsior, June 6, 2008, at http://www.dailyexcelsior.com/web1/08june06/news.htm#1