Two Let militants killed in north Kashmir’s Hajin

SRINAGAR : In a joint operation, police and army on Thursday killed two foreign militants of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) in north Kashmir’s Hajin town. The slain militants are Rizwan and Ali, both of Pakistan and members of Lashkar. The locals said forces personnel comprising, police, army and the CRPF launched a cordon and search operation in Par Mollah in the centre of Hajin town. The operation was launched on specific information about militant presence in the locality.

Army spokesman, Colonel Rajesh Kalia said two militants were killed in the operation at Hajin. Police spokesman said joint search operation based on credible inputs about the presence of militant’s at Par Mohalla was launched in early hours on Thursday.

“During the searches, militants fired on the search party, which was retaliated leading to an encounter. In the ensuing encounter, two militants were killed and huge quantity of arms and ammunition including rifles were recovered from the encounter site.’’

The spokesman said the items recovered from the encounter site indicate that both the killed militants were foreigners from Pakistan. “They have been identified as Rizwan alias Jindaal and Ali alias Maaz. Both were involved in several attacks on security establishments and civilian atrocities in the area.’’

In the recent years Hajin has witnessed spurt in violence. Police say that around nine militants of Lashkar are active in the town and the group is headed by one local militant Saleem Parray.

In last four months, six civilians were killed in Hajin and its adjoining areas, while police blamed militants for these civilian killings, militants however said two killings were not carried by them and blamed agencies for killing civilians.