Five militants of Hizbul Mujahideen were killed in an encounter with security forces in Reban village of South Kashmir’s Shopian district on Sunday.
The 11-hour encounter broke out at about 7:10 am and ended at about 6 pm.
A police official said that acting upon a specific information developed by police; army, CRPF and police personnel cordoned off village Reban during wee hours and launched searches.
“During the search operation the contact was established with the militants at about 7 am and soon the exchange of firing took place,” he said.
The guns blazed on both sides throughout the day and only felt silent in the evening at around 6 pm with the killing of the last of the five militants.
Two houses where the militants had taken shelter were razed to ground.
Later the bodies of five militants were recovered from the rubble of the houses. According to sources, all of the slain militants are locals but police have not revealed their identity.
3 AK 47 rifles, 2 pistols were recovered from the rubble.
The Internet was snapped in the whole district soon after the encounter broke out.
As the word about the encounter spread, youth from different areas assembled near the encounter spot and resorted to stone pelting on the security forces. The forces fired tear gas shells on the youth, the clashes continued for many hours.
Inspector General of Police, Kashmir zone, Vijay Kumar, said, “Five militants were killed with no collateral damage, they belonged to HM. Their identity is being ascertained. However according to credible inputs, one of them was a top commander.”
According to a police official the bodies of the militants would be taken either to Sonamarg or Baramulla for burial. Lately, police have been denying the bodies of militants to their families as their funerals used to attract large crowds.