On early Tuesday morning, gunshots pierced the air in Kutpora village of south Kashmir’s Shopian district as an encounter broke out between security forces and militants. The encounter went on for several hours and ended with the killing of two local militants.
A police official said that a joint team of army’s 34 RR, CRPF and police surrounded Kutpora, a village tucked away in thick apple orchards some 5 kms from Shopian town, and began a search operation.
The operation, said the official, was carried out after the forces had received definite inputs about the presence of militants in the area.
“At around 6 am, as the forces were about to approach a suspected spot, militants hiding there opened fire on them,” said the official, adding that the fire was returned immediately, triggering an encounter.
The encounter, according to the official, went on for at least 7 long hours and ended with the killing of two militants.
The slain militants were the natives of Kutpora village and have been identified as Umar Mushtaq Lone son of Mushtaq Ahmad Lone and Irfan Ahmad Thokar son of Mohammad Ishaq Thokar.
While Lone had signed up for a militant outfit barely four days ago, Thokar was an active militant since August 9 this year.
A senior police official told the Greater Kashmir that the operation was paused for at least two hours in an attempt to encourage the militants to surrender.
Immediately, after the encounter, the authorities snapped the internet services in the district to thwart any protests.