3 Hizbul militants, woman killed in Srinagar encounter

Three Hizbul-Mujahideen militants and a 45-yearold woman resident were killed and a CRPF officer was injured in a predawn gunfight in Srinagar’s Batamallo quarter on Thursday.

The house in which gunmen had been holed up was damaged in the final assault of the security forces during which small and medium weapons were used, the police sources and witness said.

The slain militants have been identified as Zakir Ahmad Paul, Ubair Mushtaq Bhat and Adil Hussain Bhat — all local Kashmiris from militancy-infested southern Kulgam -Shopian - Pulwama districts.

The police claimed that they were involved in several attacks in Srinagar and South Kashmir.

Director General of Police, Dilbag Singh, said the local woman Kaunsar Jan was killed after she was hit in a barrage of militant gunfire. He termed the killing of a civilian during the operation as “unfortunate”.

He said, “The operation was launched at 3 am and in the initial firing of terrorists a deputy commandant of the CRPF was injured and, unfortunately, a local woman was killed.”

However, the slain woman’s son Aquib Riyaz Sofi said she was hit in her head and died on the spot when the security forces fired upon their car in which the mother-son due was trying to move out of the area to escape fighting.

He said, “Our house is situated in Lane No. 9 (of Firdous Colony Batamaloo). My mother and I left home so that we could relocate to a safer location. When I reached near Lane No. 5, my mother, seeing huge deployment of security forces ahead, got so scared that she forced me to drive back to our home. It was when the security forces fired from behind and one after another bullet pierced the head of my mother sitting next to the driving seat resulting in her on spot death”.

The killing of three suspected militants and woman sparked off protests in Batamalloo neighbourhood during which irate crowds of youth clashed with the security forces. The latter fired dozens of teargas canisters to quell the stone-pelting mobs in the area, the witnesses said.

The DGP told reporters that the security forces combating a 31-year-old insurgency in J&K have killed 177 militants including 22 foreigners in

72 operations, so far, this year.

“All the 22 foreign terrorists were Pakistani nationals and it shows how deeply it (Pakistan) is involved in terrorism and violence being unleashed in J&K,” he said.

A statement issued by the police here said that during the search operation in Batamaloo, the militants holed up in a residential house were given the opportunity to surrender.

“They, however, indiscriminately fired upon the joint search party, which was retaliated leading to an encounter. Unfortunately in the initial indiscriminate firing by the terrorists, CRPF Deputy Commandant Rahul Mathur and a lady identified as Kaunsar Jan were seriously injured. She succumbed to her injuries on spot while the injured CRPF Officer was shifted to 92-Base Army Hospital for treatment,” it said.

Mr. Singh said that militants from other districts of the Valley keep visiting Srinagar to carry out attacks on security forces.

“The J&K police and CRPF teams are alert and whenever they get a lead about presence of terrorists in Srinagar, efforts are immediately put in place to ensure zero collateral damage before neutralizing them,” he said. He added, “Thursday’s operation was seventh in Srinagar in the recent past, but biggest success was the killing of Hizb-ulMujahideen commander Junaid Sehrai in the May

19 encounter.” Charu Sinha who took over as IG CRPF (Srinagar sector) recently at the press conference said that there was “a huge difference” between the situation in Naxal areas of the country and Kashmir especially Srinagar.

“We will work professionally in collaboration with police and other agencies,” she said.