Two Jaish-e-Mohammad militants were killed in a gunfight with the government forces in Drabgam village of southern Pulwama district on Friday.
According to a police source, two local Jaish militants namely Shahid Mushtaq Baba son of late Mushtaq Ahmed Baba of Drabgam Pulwama and
Inayat Abdullah Wani son of Mohammad Abdullah Wani of Arihal Pulwama were killed during the nocturnal gunfight with the forces at Drabgam.
Shahid had joined the militancy last year while as Inayat joined it as recently as on 26 January.
One residential house also damaged during the gunfight.
An army official said on a tip-off, a joint party of Army’s 44 Rashtriya Rifles and Jammu & Kashmir police cordoned off Drabgam village of Rajpora Thursday evening and launched searches.
“The five hour long search operation turned into a gunfight after militants holed up inside a residential house opened fire on the forces. The militants were neutralized while as the exchange of fire continued throughout the night. ” he said.
A police officer posted in south Kashmir talking to Greater Kashmir said: “We recovered two bodies of JeM militants. Some weapons and other incriminating material were also recovered from the gunfight site.”
Locals at Drabgam said they heard indiscriminate firing throughout the night. “The intense firing caused panic in the area and the people could not sleep during the night,” they said.
A top police officer wishing anonymity said that it was a clean operation in which no collateral damage took place.
As soon as the news about the encounter broke out in the area, a group of youth pelted the vehicles of forces with stones. The forces responded by firing tear smoke shells to disperse the protesting youth.
As the gunfight ended, bodies were handed over to the families for last rites.
In the morning, people in droves participated in the last rites of the slain militants in the twin villages of Pulwama. After as many as 11 back-to-back funeral prayers, both the militants were laid to rest at their respective ancestral graveyards.
Braving snowfall scores of mourners from different areas started arriving in Pulwama villages, to have the last glimpse of the militants. Some local pro-freedom leaders also participated in the funerals and addressed the gathering.
Emotionally charged women shouted slogans during the funeral prayers.
Meanwhile, following the killing of the militants, a complete shutdown was observed in Pulwama.
Authorities also snapped Internet service in Pulwama as a “precautionary measure”.
POLICE VERSION:
Based on a credible input about the presence of militants in Drabgam area of district Pulwama, a cordon and search operation was launched during the intervening night (of Wednesday/Thursday) jointly by Police and security forces in the area.
As the searches were going on, the search party was fired upon by the militants. The fire was retaliated leading to a gunfight.
In the ensuing encounter, two militants were killed and the bodies were retrieved from the site of encounter.
The killed militants have been identified as “Shahid Mushtaq Baba son of Mushtaq Ahmed Baba resident of Drabgam Pulwama and Inayat Abdullah Zigar son of Mohammad Abdullah Zigar resident of Arihal Pulwama”, the statement said.
It said “due to the efforts of security forces it was a clean operation and no collateral damage took place during the encounter”.
Arms and ammunition were recovered from the site of encounter.
Meanwhile, the statement said the citizens are again requested “not to venture inside the encounter zone since such an area can prove dangerous due to stray explosive materials.”
“People are requested to cooperate with police till the area is completely sanitized and cleared of all the explosive materials if any,” it said.