Two militants killed in a gunfight with the security forcesin south Kashmir’s Kulgam district on Wednesday morning were affiliated withHizb ul Mujahideen outfit.
An official identified the slain as Zahid Ahmad Mantoo sonof Bashir Ahmad Mantoo from Feeripora Shopian and Irfan Manzoor son of ManzoorAhmad Bhat resident of Paonwhi Kulgam.
He said Zahid was active from 25 August 2018 while Irfan hadjoined militancy on 5 April 2019.
Both were affiliated with Hizb ul Mujahideen militantoutfit, he said, adding that their bodies were handed over to the next of theirkin.
Witnesses said that multiple rounds of funeral prayers wereheld for the slain at their native areas.
The duo were killed in a gunfight that broke out before dawnin Gopalpora area of Damhal-Hanjipora in Kulgam.
“On a credible input, a cordon & search operation waslaunched by police and security forces at Gopalpora of D.H. Pora area indistrict Kulgam. During the search operation, the hiding militants fired on thesearch party. The fire was retaliated leading to an encounter,” said a policeofficial.
In the ensuing encounter, both the militants were killed.”Incriminating material including arms & ammunition was recovered from thesite of encounter,” he said.
Local reports said that three houses were damaged during thecourse of the gunfight that raged for several hours.