Militant involved in armyman’s murder among four killed in Valley
TWIN ENCOUNTERS Aurangzeb, a soldier, was killed in June 2018 when he was heading home to celebrate Eid
SRINAGAR: Four militants, including the one involved in the killing of army soldier Aurangzeb last year, were gunned down in two separate encounters in Pulwama and Baramulla districts of Jammu and Kashmir on Saturday.
In the first encounter, three Hizbul Mujahideen militants were killed in a pre-dawn operation launched by security forces in Panzgam village of Awantipora in Pulwama district. Based on credible inputs, a search and cordon operation was launched by army and police in the village. During the search operation, the hiding militants fired on the search party of the forces, who retaliated, leading to an encounter, which lasted for almost five hours. In the ensuing encounter, three local militants were gunned down. They have been identified as Showkat Dar of Panzgam,awantipora, Irfan War of Wadoora Payeen, Sopore and Muzaffar Sheikh of Tahab Pulwama. “The trio was affiliated with Hizbul Mujahideen. One of them, Showkat Dar, was part of a group involved in killing of army jawan Aurangzeb in 2018. He was also involved in killing of a policeman Aqib Ahmad Wagay last year,” police spokesperson said.
Aurangzeb was abducted and later killed by militants in June 2018 while he was heading home from his camp in south Kashmir’s Shadimarg to celebrate Eid.
Police said War and Shiekh were also involved in several terror attacks on security establishments in the area.
“It was a clean operation and no collateral damage took place during the exchange of fire,” police spokesman said.
Police have registered a case and the material has been taken in the case records for the purpose of investigation, he added.
In another operation launched at Hathlangoo village in north Kashmir’s Sopore area, one militant was killed in the gunbattle, police said. The body of the slain militant was retrieved from the site of the encounter and his identity and affiliation was yet to be ascertained, the police spokesman said. Another operation was launched by a joint team of army and police at Dehrna in Anantnag district, however, after exchange of fire between militants and forces, militants managed to escape. The operation was later terminated by the forces.
Meanwhile, the two militants killed in Panzgam were buried in their native villages. In the past three days, five militants, two soldiers and a civilians were killed in two different operations in south Kashmir.