Jahangeer Ganaie
Awantipora, Dec 25: Four militants including an IED expert of Ansaar-Gazwatul Hind (AuGH) were killed in two separate encounters in Shopian and Pulwama districts of South Kashmir on Saturday, police said.
A police officer said that acting on a specific lead about the presence of militants in Chowgam village of Shopian, police, army’s 44 RR and 14 battalion CRPF laid a siege.
“During the search operation, as the presence of militants got ascertained, they were given ample opportunities to surrender. However, they denied the surrender opportunities and instead fired indiscriminately upon the joint search party which was retaliated leading to an encounter,” the police official said.
A police spokesman in a statement said that in the ensuing encounter, two militants were killed and their bodies were retrieved from the site of encounter. “They have been identified as Sajad Ahmad Chak son of Bashir Ahmad Chak resident of Braripora, Shopian and Raja Basit Yaqoob son of Mohd Yaqoob Najar resident of Achan Litter, Pulwama.
He said that as per police records both the killed militants were categorized and linked with outfit LeT and were part of groups involved in several cases. “Besides, the killed militant Sajad was also instrumental in motivating and recruiting the youth to join militancy,” the police spokesman said, adding that arms and ammunition including two AK series rifles, 4 AK Magazines and 32 rounds were recovered from their possession. “All the recovered materials have been taken into case records for further investigation,” the police spokesman said.
About the second encounter, police said that based on a specific information generated by Police regarding presence of militants in village Hardumir, Tral area of Awantipora in Pulwama district, a joint cordon and search operation was launched by Awantipora Police and Army in the area.
“During the search operation, as the presence of militants got ascertained, they were given ample opportunities to surrender. However, they denied the surrender offers,” the police spokesman said, adding that in the ensuing encounter, two militants were killed and their bodies were retrieved from the site of encounter. “The slain militants have been identified as Nadeem Nazir Bhat son of Nazir Ahmad Bhat, resident of Koil Shikargah Tral and Rahi Rasool Bhat alias Adil son of Ghulam Rasool resident of Kanipora Dadsara.”
He said that as per police records both the killed militants were categorized militants linked with AuGH and were part of groups involved in several cases including IED blast and grenade attacks on Police/SF establishments.
“Arms and ammunition including two AK series rifles were recovered from their possession,” he said. IGP Kashmir Vijay Kumar in a tweet said that slain militant Rahi alias Adil was an IED expert of AuGH outfit.
He also said that in the past 48 hours, five militants were killed in three successful operations without any collateral damage.
