KASHMIR TENSE, MILITANTS GIVE GUN SALUTE TO KILLED LET MAN

Much of the Kashmir valley was tense on Saturday, a day after 10 people were killed in militant attacks and violent protests across the region.

Friday’s deaths included top Lashkar commander Junaid Mattoo, who was seen as the third most prominent face of the insurgency after Burhan Wani and Sabzar Bhat.

Wani was killed in July last year — a death that triggered one of the worst phases of violence for the region that claimed at least 100 civilian lives since — and Bhat was gunned down late last month.

Scores of people, including militants, attended Mattoo’s funeral on Saturday at Khudwani village in Kashmir’s Kulgam district.

The militants gave Mattoo a gun salute at the funeral.

The outfit Mattoo belonged to, the Lashkar-e-Taiba, claimed an attack on a policy party in which five cops were killed after hours Mattoo’s death.

Matoo was among the three LeT militants killed in an encounter with security forces at Arwani in Bijbehara on Friday. Police confirmed their death only after recovering their bodies from the debris early on Saturday.

A resident of Khudwani village, 20-year-old Matoo was a category A++ militant with a bounty of Rs 10 lakh on his head. His name figured in a list of 12 wanted men released recently by the Army. He became the outfit’s Kulgam commander after Majid Zargar was killed by security forces in December.