Four militants belonging to Lashkar-e-Toiba and Hizbul Mujahideen outfits were killed and four forces personnel injured in a gunfight in southern Pulwama district on Monday, police said.
According to a police official, a joint team of the army,special operations group of Jammu and Kashmir police and central reserve policeforce (CRPF) laid a siege around Lassipora village during the night “followingspecific inputs” about presence of militants in the area.
At around 4am, the hiding militants opened fire on forceswhile the forces approached an apple orchard during a search operation, theofficial said.
The forces returned the fire, leading to an encounter, hesaid. “In the initial exchange of firing, three soldiers including a lieutenantcolonel and a policeman suffered injuries,” the official said.
He identified the injured as lieutenant colonel S K Singh,sepoy Harkrishan Yadav, sepoy Arjun Singh and J&K policeman Vishal Koul.
They were immediately rushed to army’s 92 base hospital inSrinagar, he said.
The gun-battle ended soon with the killing of four militantsaffiliated with Lashkar-e-Toiba and Hizbul Mujahideen, the official said.
The slain militants were identified as Towseef Ahmad Itoo,son of Abdul Aziz of Gudbugh Pulwama; Muhammad Aqib Kumar son of Bashir Ahmadof Hillow Shopian; Zaffar Paul son Muhammad Ahsan of Dangerpora Shopian andMuhammad Shafi Bhat son of Ghulam Mohammad of Sedow Shopian.
According to the official, Itoo had joined militancy in July2016 and Paul in November 2017, while Kumar and Bhat took up arms in Septemberand October months of 2018 respectively.
The bodies of all the four militants were handed over totheir families in the afternoon.
This is the second encounter in southern Kashmir in the pastfive days. On this day in 2018, 12 militants were killed in two separategun-battles in Dragad and Kachdora hamlets of Shopian district.
Meanwhile, groups of witnesses said mourners beganconverging in the native villages of slain militants soon after their bodiesreached there.
Thousands of people participated in multiple funeral prayersheld for the slain militants.
While Itoo, Kumar and Paul were laid to rest in theirancestral graveyards, Bhat was still to be laid to rest when this report wasbeing filed.
Meanwhile, while the Shopian district observed a spontaneousshutdown Monday to commemorate the first death anniversary of a local militantZubair Ahmad Turey, who was killed last year on this day along with his sixassociates in Dragad village of the district, the Pulwama town remained shut onMonday to mourn the militant killings at Lassipora.
POLICE VERSION
A police spokesman said in a statement: “With the efforts ofthe police and security forces, it was a clean operation and no collateraldamage happened during the encounter”.
“Incriminating material including arms and ammunition wasrecovered from the site of the encounter. Police have registered a case.Citizens are requested not to venture inside the encounter zone since such anarea can prove dangerous due to stray explosive materials. People are requestedto cooperate with the police till the area is completely sanitised and cleared ofall the explosive materials if any,” the statement read.
“According to the police records, it was a combined group ofproscribed outfits HM and LeT. They were wanted by law for their complicity ina series of crimes including attacks on security establishments and civilianatrocities. As per police records, Tauseef had a long history of crime recordsand several crime cases were registered against him. He was involved inconspiring and executing many attacks in the area,” the police statement read.
“Similarly, Zaffar was involved in many crime cases whichinclude FIR No. 290/2017, 307/2018, 13/2019, which were registered against himin police station Shopian. Aqib Ahmadand Muhammad Shafi were also involved in crimes in the area. Incriminatingmaterials including arms and ammunition was recovered from the site ofencounter. All these materials have been taken in the case records for furtherinvestigation and to probe their complicity in other cases,” the statementread.
HIZB PAYS TRIBUTE
Meanwhile, Hizb-ul-Mujahideen Monday paid tributes to themilitants who were killed in an encounter with forces in Lassipora area.
Local news agency KNS quoted Hizb’s operational spokesman,Burhan-ud-Din as saying in an e-mailed statement that “the sacrifices of theseslain militants will help to achieve the goal of (freedom)”.
“On this day in 2018, at least 13 Hizb militants were killedin Dragad and Kachdoora Shopian. Tributes were paid to them on theiranniversary,” the statement read, adding: “Condolence meetings were held forthe slain on their anniversary across the Line of Control during which deputyHizb chief Saifullah Khalid and operational commander said that such sacrificeswill help in taking the struggle to the logical conclusion.”