PhD scholar one of 2 Hizb men killed in J& K gunfight
A PhD scholar-turned- militant, Manan Bashir Wani, is among two gunmen killed by the security forces in a gunbattle in J& K’s Kupwara on Thursday. Officials said the gunbattle broke out after the Army’s 30 Rashtriya Rifles, the J& K police’s counterinsurgency Special Operations Group and the CRPF laid siege to Shartgund Qalamabad village where the duo was hiding in a private house. They said the security forces learnt about the presence of Wani and another militant in the village through intelligence inputs.
Wani was pursuing higher studies at Aligarh Muslim University but quietly returned to his home state in January this year only to pick up the gun and join the Hizb- ulMujahideen.
A PhD scholar- turned- militant, Manan Bashir Wani, is among two gunmen killed by security forces in a gun battle in Jammu and Kashmir’s frontier district of Kupwara on Thursday.
The officials said that the gunfight broke out after the Army’s 30 Rashtriya Rifles, J& K police’s counterinsurgency Special Operations Group ( SOG) and the Central Reserve Police Force ( CRPF) laid siege to Shartgund Qalamabad village of the district where the duo was hiding in a private house. They added that the security forces learnt about the presence of Wani and another militant in the village through intelligence inputs.
“A cordon- and- search operation was launched in Shartgund Qalamabad late Wednesday night after learning about the presence of militants through intelligence inputs. The militants opened fire at the search party and the intermittent firing between the two sides continued through Thursday,” a police official said. He added that Wani and his accomplice Ashique Hussein Zargar were killed in the final assault shortly before noon on Thursday. Wani was pursuing higher studies at Aligarh Muslim University but in January this year he silently returned to his home state only to pick up the gun and join Hizb- ulMujahideen, the frontline indigenous militant outfit. The security officials termed Wani’s killing as a “major success” against militants and militancy in the state. The killing of militants sparked off protests in several areas of Kupwara. Reports said that police and Central armed forces used force to quell stone- pelting mobs at places in the district. The clashes were underway as reports last came in. A witness said that clashes broke out also during the encounter and the security forces used live ammunition to broke up the violent protests, leaving several people injured. A statement issued by the police here said that before the fighting broke out, the civilians in the nearby areas were evacuated.
“Further following the SOP ( standard operation procedure) attempts to make the militants’ surrender failed,” the statement said that while two militants were “eliminated” no collateral damage has taken place during the operation.