2 top Hizb militants, youth killed in J& K
2 Armymen and several protesters suffer injuries
Two Hizbul Mujahideen militants, including a senior commander, and a civilian were killed during an encounter in Jammu and Kashmir’s southern Pulwama district while three unidentified civilians were shot dead by militants in old Baramulla town on Monday.
The encounter in Pulwama took place in Drabgam village in which Sameer Ahmed Bhat alias Sameer Tiger, a senior commander of the Hizb and a resident of Drabgam, was killed along with his accomplice Aqib Khan. An Army major and a soldier were injured in the exchange of fire, officials said.
Director general of police Shesh Paul Vaid tweeted, “In Drabgam Pulwama encounter today morning in a joint operation two HeM terrorists killed including top commander Samir Tiger who was involved in number of civilian killings. It should bring peace in the area.”
Two Hizb- ul- Mujahedin cadres including a senior commander were on Monday killed in a fire fight with security forces in a remote village of Jammu and Kashmir's southern Pulwama district. An Army major and a soldier were injured in the initial exchange of fire between the two sides, the officials said.
A teenager was also killed and about fifteen other protesters were injured in clashes near the site of encounter in Pulwama's Drabgam village.
One of the slain militants has been identified as Sameer Tiger, a senior commander of the Hizb. His accomplice Aqib Khan who was also a known face in Kashmir's frontline indigenous militant outfir is the other militant killed during the encounter, the police sources said.
While Tiger was a resident of Drabgam itself, Mr Khan was from neighbouring Rajpora area of Pulwama. The Army and police sources said that the security forces including Army's 44 Rashtriya Rifles, the J& K police's counterinsurgency special operations group and the central reserve police force laid siege to Drabgam following inputs about the presence of militants in the village.
As they zeroed in on a private house where militants had been holed up, the latter opened fire injuring two army men, the sources said.
They were rushed to Srinagar's 92- Base army hospital. SSP Pulwama Aslam Chaudhary confirmed that an army major and a soldier received bullet wounds in first barrage of gunfire from holed up militants. Amid the encounter, surging crowds clashed with the security forces.
The police sources said that hundreds of youth came near the encounter site and started chanting pro- freedom slogans in an attempt to encourage the holed up militants and then indulged in stonepelting. The security forces fired live ammunition into the violent crowd injuring several people.
Internet services in the area have been withdrawn “as a precautionary measure”.
The authorities have also suspended train services through Pulwama due to security concerns.