HIZBUL COMMANDER SHOT DEAD
In a major jolt to Hizbul Mujahideen, three of its militants, including selfstyled chief operations commander Yasin Itoo alias “Gaznavi”, were killed in a fierce gunbattle in a village of southern Shopian district of Jammu and Kashmir overnight, officials said here on Sunday.
Two Army jawans were martyred while four others were injured in the firefight.
The two other militants killed were identified as Irfan-ul-Haq and Umar Majeed Mir. The police said the trio was involved in a number of militancy-related incidents. Gaznavi was one of the longest-surviving militants and was seen as the Hizb’s top commander in south Kashmir, police sources said. Two soldiers who laid down their lives are Sepoy Gawai Sumedh Waman and Sepoy Ilayaraja P., both 25. The former was a resident of village Lonagra in Akola, Maharashtra, and the latter was from village Kandani of Sivagangai district in Tamil Nadu.
Three Hizb-ul-Mujaheddin militants including a top commander and two Army jawans were killed in a fierce fire fight in a remote village of southern Shopian district of Jammu and Kashmir overnight, official here said on Sunday.
The security forces have launched ‘Operation All-out’ against militants across the Kashmir Valley and, so far, this year as many as 136 militants including six commanders have been 'neutralized'. However, about two dozen security personnel too have laid down their lives while fighting militancy, the official sources said.
J&K’s director General of Police, Shesh Paul Vaid has said that there would be no let up in the tough campaign and reiterated that the youth who have taken up the gun have been left with only two options now- either to return to their homes or get killed in the counterinsurgency operations.
The officials said that the J&K police's counterinsurgency Special Operations Group with Army’s 3 Rashtriya Rifles and the 177 Battalion of the Central Reserve Police Force launched a cordon-and-search operation in Awneera village of Zainapora area of Shopian, about 55km south of here, on Saturday night.
It said, “During the search operation, militants hiding in the area fired upon the joint search party. The fire was retaliated, triggering an encounter.”