SRINAGAR – Three local militants were killed in an encounter with government forces in Anantnag district of South Kashmir.
The three militants, who were in their early 20s and had joined militant groups recently, were killed on Wednesday in an encounter with the police in Anantnag district, officials said.
The encounter broke out at Pazalpora area in Anantnag on the intervening night of Tuesday and Wednesday on a specific intelligence provided by the district police.
All the three militants have been neutralised, the officials said.
A police team, along with other government forces, launched a cordon-and-search operation in the area. It had a pinpointed information where the three militants were holed up, the officials said.
It approached a house whose owner resisted saying that no one was present at the premises, but not agreeing to the landlord, the team carried on with their operation, they said.
The holed up militants first fired at around 02.30 AM after which the police retaliated effectively.
In the encounter, the entire house came down due to the gunfight, they said, adding that the bodies have been handed over to the families for their burial.
The oldest among the three was Nasir Gulzar Chadroo alias Abu Hannan, a resident of Bijbehara in Anantnag district, who had joined the Lashker-e-Taiba outfit in September last year.
The other two were identified as Zahid Ahmad Lone and Aaqib Ahmad Hajam.
While Lone, also a resident of Bijbehara, had joined the outfit in July, Hajam, a resident of Redhwani in Kulgam district of south Kashmir, had joined militancy in April. All the three were in their early 20’s.
According to the records, a spokesman of police said, all of them had a history of militant cases and were part of groups involved in planning & executing attacks in the area and many other civilian “atrocities.”
“As per the records available with police, Nasir Gulzar was involved in case FIR No. 84/2018 of PS Achabal Anantnag pertaining to attack at police guard Khulchora Ranipora Achabal on 07 September 2018.”
Aaqib Ahmad Hajam was also involved in planning and executing series of attacks on security establishments and many other civilian in the area, the spokesman said. “He was involved in case FIR NO. 23/2017, 16/2019, 28/2019 and 31/2019. Similarly Zahid Hussain Lone was part of militant groups responsible for attacks in the area.”
The spokesman said incriminating material including arms & ammunition were recovered from the site of encounter. “All these materials have been taken into case records for further investigation and to probe their complicity in other crimes.”
Meanwhile, thousands of people marched towards the houses of three slain militants to participate in their funeral procession
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