Neyaz Elahi
Pulwama (NVI): Three militants were today killed in a gunfight — reportedly the first encounter of the year in J&K — with security forces in Tral town in south Kashmir’s Pulwama.
A police official said, “The encounter was brief but effective. All the three trapped militants were killed shortly after the area was brought under siege.”
“After receiving inputs about the presence of militants, security forces cordoned off Mandura hamlet of Tral town. Door-to-door search operation was launched in the village. When the house where militants were present was zeroed in, they resorted to indiscriminate firing,” the official said.
“In retaliation, the forces killed a militant instantly while it took not more than 10 minutes to neutralize rest of the two militants,” he added.
The slain militants, affiliated with the banned militant organization Lashkar-e-Taiba, are believed to be locals.
Police said they are ascertaining the identity of the slain militants, while the search operation is going on.
The militants, who were trapped in a house, came out in open and started firing at the search party. All three militants were killed in the retaliatory fire.
Divulging more information, Inspector General of Police, Kashmir Zone, Vijay Kumar said that the slain militants were locals hailing from Tral town. They have been identified as Waris Hasan, Arif Bashir and Syed Hafiz.
“One AK-47, 2 pistols and 2 grenades were recovered from the encounter site,” he said.
IGP Kumar further informed that two out of three slain militants were newly recruited while one was involved in a grenade attack in Tral this year, which had left a trooper and 8 civilians injured.
The IGP stated that all the three slain militants were affiliated with militant outfit Hizbul Mujahadeen.
He said that Pakistan is instigating youth in Kashmir through online portals and social media. “We are planning to start counseling the youth. Parents have to play an important role to guide their children,” IGP said.
Last year in January, a militant identified as Faizan Hamid, native of same Mandoora village was killed in a gunfight along with his 2 associates in Gulshanpora in Tral.
Compared to other months last year, this year the month of January turned out to be more or less peaceful in Valley with no encounter or any major attack from militants.
According to the data, last year this month, 23 persons including 17 militants, 3 soldiers, a cop and 2 army potters were killed in Jammu and Kashmir.
This year in January, the number of casualties stands at 7 including 4 soldiers and 3 militants. While one soldier was killed in a militant attack earlier this month in Kashmir, three others were killed in cross-border firing by Pakistan.
-RJV/ARK
