A militant hailing from Sopore and belonging to Jaish-e-Muhammad outfit was killed in a gunfight with government forces in Yaroo village in northern Handwara area on Thursday, police said.
A police official said a joint cordon-and-search operation(CASO) was launched by the army’s 30 rashtriya rifles, special operations groupof J&K police and central reserve police force (CRPF) in Yaroo on Wednesdayevening following “specific information” about presence of militants in thearea.
The searches were intensified during the night and morereinforcements were rushed to the area to prevent militants from escaping, hesaid.
“Lights were also installed to enable continuation of thesearch operation during the night,” he said.
Residents of Yaroo said at around 7am, the exchange offiring started and it was followed by some blasts at around 10.30am.
A house in which a militant was believed to be trapped wasrazed to the ground, while a cowshed and two shops were gutted during theexchange of gunfire, they said.
The destroyed house belonged to Abdul Aziz Lone, a farmer.
The body of the slain militant was recovered from the encountersite along with some arms and ammunition, the police official said.
The slain militant was later identified as Danish Ahmad Dar,a resident of Sadpora area of Sopore, who was associated with Jaish-e-Muhammad.
“The body was handed over to the family for the last rites,”the official said.
Yaroo is situated a kilometer away from Babagund, where twomilitants, five forces personnel and a civilian were killed in a gunfightearlier this month.
The Yaroo encounter has also left behind a trail ofdestruction, like the gunfight in Babagund, where seven houses and fivecowsheds were damaged during the firefight.
Meanwhile, the degree college and higher secondary schoolsin Handwara (both boys and girls) and the higher secondary schools in Langate(both boys and girls) remained closed Thursday in view of the Yaroo gunfight,while section 144, which bars assembly of four or more persons in a particularplace, was imposed around the site of the encounter.
The internet services remained suspended from Wednesdayevening in police district Handwara and Sopore division.
Meanwhile, thousands of people attended the last rites ofDanish at his native Syedpora village in Sopore this evening.
Amid pro-freedom and pro-Islam sloganeering, a large numberof people including women from Sopore and its Zainageer belt assembled atSyedpora and carried the body of Danish in a procession to the martyrs’graveyard for burial.
The 20-year-old had joined militancy a year before,according to officials, and was the youngest among his siblings including twoelder brothers and a sister.
POLICE VERSION
The police said Danish was affiliated with JeM outfit and”wanted by the law for his complicity in a series of crimes including an attackon security establishments and civilian atrocities”.
“Several crime cases were registered against him for hisinvolvement in crime offences,” the police statement said. “Incriminatingmaterials including rifle and grenades were recovered from the site ofencounter”.
“Citizens are requested not to venture inside the encounterzone since such an area can prove dangerous due to stray explosive materials.People are requested to cooperate with police till the area is completelysanitised and cleared of all the explosives materials if any,” the police said.
(With Ghulam Muhammad in Sopore)