Two Lashkar militants gunned down in Kulgam
Encounter took place near the national highway; both militants locals
Two Lashkar- eTaiba militants were neutralised in an encounter in south Kashmir’s Kulgam district on Monday.
The slain terrorists were identified as Zubair Ahmad Mir of Qaimoh and Idrees Ahmad Dar of Kulpora in Kulgam. The encounter took place near the national highway after the Jammu and Kashmir Police and 1 Rashtriya Rifles launched a joint operation in Kherpora Trubji village in Kulgam.
“During the search operation, as the joint search party approached their suspected hiding spot, the terrorists started indiscriminately firing on the joint search party. The firing was effectively retaliated leading to an encounter, in which two local terrorists of the proscribed terror outfit were killed. Their bodies have been retrieved from the site of encounter,” a police spokesman said, adding that the civilians were evacuated to safer areas.
“As per police records, both slain men had been categorised as terrorists and had been involved in several terror crime cases such as attacks on security forces and civilian atrocities, including killing of Panchayati Raj Institution ( PRI) representatives.
“Mir has been active since August 2021 and was trying to revive the terror folds by recruiting and motivating the gullible youth, including terrorist Idrees Ahmad to join the terror outfit,” the spokesperson said.
Kashmir inspector general of police Vijay Kumar said it was a vital operation as “the encounter site is very close to national highway, which falls in the route of the Amarnath Yatra route and the LeT (TRF) has been issuing threats to disrupt the same.”
Earlier, two Hizbul Mujahideen (HM) militants, including one who was involved in the killing of a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) sarpanch and his wife last year, were gunned down by security forces in south Kashmir’s Anantnag district on Friday. On Thursday two militants were gunned down in Kulgam.