Srinagar: Five militants were killed in two separate encounters in south Kashmir’s Shopian district, police said Tuesday.
According to a police spokesperson, Lashkar-e-Taiba militant Mukhtar Shah and his two associates Danish Hussain Dar of Kapren and Yawar Hussain Naikoo of Pahlipora were killed in an encounter with a joint team of police, army’s 34RR and CRPF in an overnight gunfight in Tulran village of Shopian.
Shah, a resident of Sindbal, Ganderbal, he said, was involved in the targeted killing of non-local vendor at Lal Bazar area of Srinagar. The killed militant, he said, had shifted to Shopian after killing the non-local street vendor.
Divulging more details of the gunfight, the police spokesperson said that around 6pm Monday, a joint cordon and search operation was launched in Tulran on the basis of specific inputs suggesting presence of militants in the village.
He said the holed-up militants were given repeated opportunities to surrender when their presence got ascertained.
Instead they fired indiscriminately upon the joint search party which was retaliated leading to an encounter. However due to darkness the operation was suspended, while the cordon was kept intact,” he said.
In the wee hours, he said, repeated announcements were again made to the hiding militants to surrender, but they again fired on joint search party and the fire was retaliated.
“In the ensuing encounter, three terrorists were killed and their bodies were retrieved from the site of encounter. As per police records, the killed terrorists were linked with proscribed terror outfit LeT (TRF) and remained part of groups involved in several terror crime cases including attacks on security establishments and civilian atrocities,” the police spokesperson said.
In a separate encounter in Feeripora, he said, two militants Ubaid Ahmad Dar of Ray Kapren and Khubaib Ahmad Nengroo of Braripora were killed in the encounter after the search operation was resumed in the wee hours of Tuesday.
“At about 1000hrs, contact was established with the hiding terrorists and they were given ample opportunities to surrender. However, they started firing indiscriminately at the search party which was retaliated leading to an encounter,” the police spokesperson said. In the ensuing encounter two terrorists were killed and their bodies were retrieved from the site of the encounter,” he said.
Both the militants, as per police spokesperson, were associated with LeT and were involved in several “terror” crime cases.
“Incriminating materials, including arms and ammunition were recovered from the site of encounter. All the recovered materials have been taken into case records for further investigation. Police has registered a case under relevant sections of law and investigation has been initiated,” he added.
The police spokesperson also quoted IGP Kashmir, Vijay Kumar congratulating the joint team working with great synergy and coordination on the ground for carrying out anti-militancy operations in professional manner without collateral damage.
“It is pertinent to mention that 2 cases out of 4 recent terror cases of target killings in Srinagar and Bandipora stands solved by the elimination of the involved terrorists,” he added.
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