Six militants shot dead in twin J&K encounters
Curfew clamped after exchange of fire triggers clashes in south Kashmir’s Pulwama district
Six militants, an army soldier and a civilian were killed during two gunbattles in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pulwama and Shopian districts on Thursday.
SRINAGAR: Six militants, an army soldier and a civilian were killed during two gunbattles in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pulwama and Shopian districts on Thursday, police and army officials said.
Three Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) militants and an army soldier were killed during an encounter in south Kashmir’s Pulwama district. One civilian also lost his life in the exchange of fire between militants and security forces, the police said.
“As the security forces were evacuating civilians from the neighbourhood area around the target(ed) house, the terrorists [hiding there] fired indiscriminately. In the process, one army jawan, Sepoy Sandeep, attained martyrdom and one civilian Rayees Dar also lost his life,” said police spokesman Manoj Kumar.
The slain militants have been identified as Naseer Pandith from Kareemabad in Pulwama, Umar Mir of Shopian and Khalid from Pakistan, Kumar said.
The encounter triggered clashes between members of the public and security forces, prompting the authorities to impose curfew. The forces fired tear gas shells and pellets to disperse the protesters, many of whom pelted the security personnel with stones. Mobile internet services were suspended in the district as well.
The gun fight started in the morning after a cordon and search operation was launched by police, CRPF and army at Dalipora area in Pulwama after intelligence inputs about the presence of militants in a house.
An official from Pulwama police station said Rayees Dar and his brother Younis Jalal Dar were asked to accompany the forces to “show the way” when they were hit by bullets. “While Rayees died, Younis sustained injuries in his leg,” he said. The security forces retaliated and killed the three militants holed up in the house. According to police records, the slain militants were affiliated to Pakistan-based JeM that owned up the February 14 Pulwama terror attack, in which 40 CRPF troopers lost their lives.
“They [the militants] were wanted by law for their complicity in a series of terror crimes, including attack on security establishments and civilian atrocities. Several terror crime cases were registered against them,” Kumar said.
“Naseer Pandith was involved in the killing of a policeman Mohammad Yaqoob Shah of Pulwama in 2018 on the eve of Eid. He was also involved in some weapon snatching incidents reported from the area besides several cases were registered against him for his criminal activities,” Kumar added.
Khalid, a commander of JeM, and Umar Mir were also involved in several terror attacks, the official said.
In neighbouring Shopian district, soldiers surrounded an orchard where a group of militants were hiding, sparking another fierce gunbattle that lasted hours. Three militants were killed and one soldier sustained injuries in the exchange of gunfire, police said. Meanwhile, separatists under the banner of Joint Resistance Leaders (JRL), issued a statement, calling for a complete shutdown in the Valley on Friday in protest against the killing of an innocent civilian “at the hands of Indian occupation forces even during the ongoing holy month of Ramadan”.