Two Lashkar-e-Toiba militants were killed in a gunfight with forces in BrathKalan village in northern Sopore area on Thursday, the police said.
A senior police official told Greater Kashmir that the anti-militancy operation was launched on Wednesday evening jointly by the army’s 22 Rashtriya Rifles, special operations group of Jammu and Kashmir police and Central Reserve Police Force following “inputs” about presence of militants in BrathKalan.
During searches by forces in the area, the search party was fired upon by the hiding militants, he said, adding that the fire was returned, leading to gunfight in which two local militants belonging to Lashkar-e-Toiba outfit were killed.
The bodies of the two militants were retrieved on Thursday morning and later identified as Tahir Ramzan Dar son of Muhammad Ramzan of SaidporaSopore and Owais Ahmad Bhat son of Ghulam Ahmad of GundBrathSopore. During the encounter, two residential houses belonging to Muhammad Shafi Mir and AbdusSattar Mir were partially damaged.
The police said “incriminating materials including arms and ammunition were also recovered from the site of encounter”.
A case has been registered in police station Sopore for further investigations, a police spokesman said.
According to the police, Tahir and Owais had joined the outfit on 10 November and 21 October this year, respectively, and were “involved in subversive activities”.
Soon after the news of the militants’ killing spread, Sopore town including its Zaingeer belt observed a complete shutdown. All shops and other business establishments remained closed, while traffic movement was also affected.
The mobile internet services were already suspended in the sub-division on Wednesday evening, even as the district authorities ordered closure of all educational institutions, including Degree College, here on Thursday as a “precautionary measure”.
Senior superintendent of police SoporeJavid Iqbal Wani said citizens are requested not to “venture inside the encounter zone since such an area can prove dangerous due to stray explosive materials”.
“People are requested to cooperate with the police till the area is completely sanitised and cleared of explosive materials, if any,” Wani said.
THOUSANDS ATTEND FUNERALS
Thousands of people attended the funeral prayers of Owais and Tahir in their native villages.
People from Zaingeer belt including BrathKalan, Saidpora, Dangarpora and other adjoining localities assembled in the native villages of two militants soon after their bodies were taken there for the last rites this afternoon, a group of witnesses said.
Amid pro-freedom slogans, a large number of mourners carried the bodies in a procession to graveyards in their villages where they were laid to rest later, they said.
Owais (24), an ITI student, had left his home one-and-a-half month back after the killing of another local militant Minhaaz, while Tahir (22)—a BA 1st year student at GDC Sopore—had left his home on 10 November to join militancy, according to reports.