Three militants were killed while a senior paramilitary officer and a personnel were critically injured in an encounter in Batamaloo Srinagar on Thursday. A woman of the locality was also killed by a bullet wound.
The encounter started after men from CRPF and Special Operation Group of police cordoned Firdousabad Batamaloo on inputs about presence of militants. The cordon started at around 2 am.
According to a senior police officer the militants were asked to surrender but they did not. Later all the three militants were killed
The house where the militants had taken shelter was damaged in the encounter.
The militants were residents of southern Kashmir. They have been identified as Zakir Ahmad Pal, Ubair Mushtaq and Adil Hussain.
According to police records, Zakir and Ubair had joined militant ranks 2 months ago, Adil just last month.
The critically injured CRPF officer has been identified as Rahul Mathur, Deputy Commandant of 117 Battalion. He is undergoing treatment at Army’s 92 Base Hospital. He has suffered bullet wounds in lungs and abdomen.
The slain woman was identified as 45-year old Kounsar Jan. She was a baker and was on way to her shop on Thursday morning with her son in a vehicle when a bullet killed her.
Police said that the body of the woman will be handed over to her family as she has no links with militancy.
Police took the bodies of the militants and buried them in north Kashmir. For several months now, police have been denying the bodies of the militants to their families as their funerals attracted large crowds.
Reports said protests and stone pelting on security forces erupted in the area and pitched battles continued for whole day. They said youth pelted stones on security forces at various places in Batamaloo, police fired tear gas shells on the youth.
Addressing a press conference, Director General of Police, Dilbagh Singh, said that security forces conducted the operation in a professional manner and killed all the three militants. “However, a woman was caught in the cross firing. Her killing is very unfortunate and we express sympathy with the bereaved family,” Singh said.
“Today’s operation was seventh in Srinagar in the recent past, but biggest success was the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Junaid Sehrai,” the police chief said.
He said that this year so far 177 militants have been killed including 155 locals and 22 from Pakistan.
The DGP said that so far this year has been much better in terms of peace.
“I hope the way the security forces are conducting the operations, we will achieve more successes on the peace-building and operations’ front,” he said.
The DGP termed the recent beating of media men by police as “unfortunate,” stating that “such things shouldn’t take place.”
“We do not support such acts and feel bad. But at times, during operations, our men have high temper which results in such incidents. There is over reaction sometimes, which I regret. However, there is no deliberate attempt. I reiterate that media and policemen are each other’s good friends,” he said.