Srinagar At least thirteen militants and three soldiers were killed in three separate encounters in south Kashmirs Shopian and Anantnag districts on Sunday. Four civilians were also killed and over a hundred suffered injuries in day-long clashes which broke out between protesters and armed forces in many parts of South Kashmir.
Director General of Police SP Vaid confirmed the killing of 12 militants and three army men. He also confirmed the killing of four civilians.
Encounter concluded. One more militant body recovered from Shopian encounter site. In all 12 militants neutralised (one more being ascertained), 3 soldiers killed and 1 militant caught alive. Its unfortunate that stone pelting around encounter site cost 4 civilian deaths, tweeted Vaid.
According to police sources, pursuing credible leads about the presence of militants, government forces started a search operation in Draghad and Kachdoora areas of Shopian district.
While the searches were going on, the hiding militants fired upon the search parties, ensuing encounters at both the sites.
Dragad Encounter
Official sources said that seven militants were killed and two soldiers were injured in a gun battle which started at Dragad late Saturday night and continued for several hours before it concluded at around Sunday afternoon.
The slain militants have been identified as Adil Ahmed Thoker of Humhuna, Nazim Dar of Nagbal, Ubaid Shafi Malla of Trenz, Yawar Itoo of Safanagri, Rayees Ahmed Thoker of Padarpora, Zubair Turay of Shopian and Ashfaq Malik of Pinjura.
[[{“type”:”media”,”fid”:”31697″,”view_mode”:”wysiwyg”,”instance_fields”:”override”}]]
According to Police, apparently, the militant group had joined HM in the summer of 2017 and were involved in series of cases of attacks on forces; the killing of Lt. Umer Fayaz is one among them.
The bodies of the slain militants were handed over to families for their last rites.Thousands of people later attanded the last rites of the slain militants at their native villages
Kachdora Encounter
At Kachdora, five militants and three soldiers were killed in the fierce gun battle which also started last night and continued for a longer period and ended late in the afternoon on Sunday.
While three militant bodies were recovered from under the debris by government forces, the fourth militant corpse was found by locals. The locals also found another militant in critical condition who succumbed later.
Three army soldiers were killed and two others were injured in the firefight.
Several houses as per local sources were completely damaged in the gunfight.
“Two of the killed militants have been identified as Ishfaq Thokar resident of Paddarpora Shopian, Aitmad Hussain Dar resident of Amshipora, Shopian, while the identity of the other two is being ascertained,” said a police official.
Dialgam, Anantnag
At Dialgam Anantnag one militant Rouf Bashir Khanday was killed and another militant Imran Rasheed surrendered during the gunfight.
SSP Anantnag Altaf Khan said that a joint team of police, armys 19 and CRPF launched a cordon at Brunty Dialgam village during the intervening night of March 31/ April 1.
As the joint team approached the suspected spot, the hiding militants opened fire and triggering off an encounter, SSP said.
One militant Rouf Bashir Khanday was killed and another militant Imran Rashid has been captured alive during the operation, SSP said.
Rouf Ahmad Khanday Son of Bashir Ahmad Khanday, a resident of Dehruna village of Dooru Anantnag had announced his joining Hizb ul Mujahideen and his photographs wielding Ak 47 went viral in last week of March. The photograph had his code name Umar Hayat and joining active date 4/02/2018.
The picture also depicted that he was a graduate (B.A) and 15 chapters (Paras) of Quran Hafiz.
In the gunfights household goods and other items worth lakhs of rupees were damaged, locals alleged.
GOC, DGP addressed a joint Press Conference
Earlier GOC 15 Corps Lt General AK Bhatt and Jammu and Kashmir Director General of Police (DGP) S P Vaid addressed a joint press conference at Victor Force headquarters at Awantipura.
Lt Gen A K Bhatt, termed it one of the biggest operations in recent times and said the death of Lt Umar Fayaz, who was killed in Shopian last year, had been avenged.
“Among the militants killed are Ishfaq Malik and Rayees Thokar. They were responsible for his death,” Bhatt said.
Umar Fazyaz, 22, was reportedly assassinated by militants in May last year. His body was found with bullet wounds in the Hermain area of Shopian district in south Kashmir.
The DGP also made a special mention of an SSP’s efforts to convince a militant to surrender during the Dialgam encounter.
Meanwhile, four civilians were also killed and over a hundred suffered injuries in day-long clashes which broke out between protesters and armed forces in many parts of South Kashmir.
CM expresses grief over civilian deaths,pays tributes to slain Army men
Chief Minister, Mehbooba Mufti has expressed grief over the death of two civilians during various security operations in Anantnag and Shopian districts today. She has also sympathised with those injured during these operations.
The Chief Minister has also paid tributes to the three Army jawans who were killed during these operations. She has conveyed her sympathies with the bereaved families and prayed for peace to the departed souls
Hizb pays tributes to slain militants
The militant outfit Hizbul-ul-Mujahideen on Sunday paid glorious tributes to the slain militants who were killed in South Kashmir on Sunday.
In a telephonic statement issued to KNS, Hizb Operational Spokesperson Burhan-u-Din said that the Hizb chief Syed Salah-u-Din on Sunday convened an emergency meeting and paid tributes to the slain militants of Islamabad and Shopian.
Quoting UJC chief Salah-u-Din, Burhan-u-Din said that such oppressive measures would not belittle the ongoing struggle in Kashmir and that such sacrifices rendered by the youth would not be allowed to be bartered or wasted at any cost. Salah-u-Din according to Spokesperson asked Pakistani government to unify its diplomatic front and the International rights organisations must intervene and raise such barbarity at the international level.
LeT pays tributes to slain militants
Mahmood Shah, Chief Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), has paid their immense tribute to the martyrs of Shopian against Indian terrorism and said that India committing severe atrocities. The elderly, men, women and children alike are badly injured in the wake of Indian terrorism. New chapters of atrocities are being observed while the human rights organizations are silent on the incident. The Indian media takes every Kashmiri men, women, elderly and children as terrorists.
In an emailed statement issued to KNS, Dr. Abdullah Ghazanwi, Spokesperson Lashkar-e-Taiba quoting outfits chief Mahmood Shah as saying that India is pushing the oppressed to an extent that the waves of similar oppression that roam Kashmir reach out to Mumbai and Calcutta. The world will then term them as terrorism. But the Indian forces are busy in committing severe atrocities, killing the children indiscriminately. The women are being molested and raped but no one dares to step up.
Mahmood Shah appealed to the Pakistans administration that despite India is killing the people of Jammu Kashmir and imposing severe atrocities, killing the young and injuring hundreds, still the mosques, demonstrations and funeral prayers are observed in solidarity with Pakistan, its slogans and flags. Therefore, we appeal to the Pakistans administration to take proactive and responsible steps in putting an end to Indias madness and terrorism.
Follow this link to join our WhatsApp group: Join Now
Be Part of Quality Journalism |
Quality journalism takes a lot of time, money and hard work to produce and despite all the hardships we still do it. Our reporters and editors are working overtime in Kashmir and beyond to cover what you care about, break big stories, and expose injustices that can change lives. Today more people are reading Kashmir Observer than ever, but only a handful are paying while advertising revenues are falling fast. |
| ACT NOW |
| MONTHLY | Rs 100 |  |
| YEARLY | Rs 1000 | |
| LIFETIME | Rs 10000 | |
