Srinagar: Police on Thursday claimed to have killed four militants, three of them from Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) in two separate encounters in twin districts of Pulwama and Kulgam in south Kashmir.
The gunfights, according to a police spokesperson, broke out during the intervening night of Wednesday and Thursday after specific inputs about the militants were received.
In Pulwama, the police spokesperson said a cordon and search operation (CASO) was launched during the intervening night by police, army’s 53 RR with the assistance of CRPF personnel from 183 battalion on the basis of specific inputs suggesting presence of militants in Puchal area.
“During the search operation as the presence of militants got ascertained they were given repeated opportunities to surrender, however, they fired indiscriminately upon the joint search party which was retaliated leading to an encounter,” the police spokesperson said.
In the ensuing gun-battle, he said, two militants were killed and their bodies were retrieved from the site of the encounter.
He identified the duo as Kifayat Ramzan Sofi of Padgampora Awantipora and Inayat Ahmad Dar of Samboora. Sofi was associated with LeT and Dar with the Al-Badr outfit.
In the neighbouring Kulgam district, two more militants were killed in the encounter that erupted during the night hours at a checkpoint, police spokesperson said.
On credible inputs regarding the movement of militants on the highway, he said, a joint check point was set up by police and army’s 1RR at Zadora-Qazigund.
“During checking, when a suspicious vehicle was signalled to stop by the naka party, two militants who were boarding the vehicle came out and started firing indiscriminately upon the joint party. However, the alert party retaliated to the fire effectively, leading to the elimination of two militants on the spot,” the police spokesperson said.
He identified the slain militants as Nasir Ahmad Pandith of Redwani and Shahbaz Ahmad Shah of Katrusu Kulgam, both affiliated with the LeT.
“As per police records, all the killed militants were part of groups involved in various militancy related incidents. Arms, ammunition and other incriminating materials were recovered from both the encounter sites,” he said.
“In this connection, Police have registered cases under relevant sections of law and investigations have been initiated. People are requested to cooperate with police till the areas at both encounter sites are completely sanitized and cleared of all the explosive materials, if any,” he added.
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