Two Jaish-e-Muhammad (JeM) militants and an Army soldier were killed in a gunfight in Bijbehara area in this south Kashmir district on Tuesday, police said.
A police official said that the gunfight broke out betweenthe militants and the security forces in Marhama village this morning when themilitants opened fire on the joint party of Army’s 3 RR and Special OperationsGroup (SOG) of J&K police during a cordon-and-search operation. He said inthe exchange of fire, which lasted for around six hours, two militantsidentified as Sajad Bhat and Tauseef Bhat, both from Marhama village and anArmy soldier Anil Jaswal, were killed.
A witness said that house and cowshed were also destroyedduring the encounter.
Sajad, according to the police, had joined JeM’s fidayeensquad days after the Lethpora attack on 14 February this year after NationalInvestigating Agency ( NIA) probing the attack, found him to be the owner ofthe Maruti Eco car used by Aadil Dar to carry out a suicide attack, which leftat least 40 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel dead.
“Before, security forces would arrest Sajad, he went missingand barely hours later his photo carrying AK-47 went viral on social mediaannouncing his plunge into the JeM ranks, ” the police said.
Another slainmilitant Tauseef Bhat, according to the police, was active for more than twoyears and had played a key role in recruiting Sajad Bhat to the JeM.
This was the second encounter in the district withintwenty-four hours. On Monday, an Army Major and a JeM militant were killed,while another officer and two soldiers, including another Major rank officersustained injuries in an encounter in Achabal area of Anantnag district.
Meanwhile, protests erupted in the area in the morning.Youth pelted security forces with stones, following which clashes broke out inthe area as security forces responded by lobbing shells and firing pellets, awitness said.
According to the witnesses people in large numbersparticipated in the funeral of two local militants at Marhama. Meanwhile, the internet services in Anantnagdistrict were again suspended soon after the gunfight broke out.
Police Version
In a statement a police spokesman said that “on a credibleinput, a cordon and search operation was launched jointly by police andsecurity forces at Marhama in Bijbehara area this morning. As the searchoperation was on, the hiding militants fired on the search party. The fire wasretaliated leading to an encounter.
In the exchange of fire with the militants, one Army soldierAnil Jaswal sustained gunshot injuries. He was evacuated to the hospital wherehe succumbed. “We pay our rich tributes to the Army soldier for the supremesacrifice made in the line of duty,” he added.
The spokesman said that the slain militants were wanted bylaw “for their complicity in a series of militancy related incidents includingattacking of security establishments and civilian atrocities. Sajad was wantedin Lethpora blast case.”
“Both of them were part of groups involved in planning andexecuting series of militant attacks in the area. Several militancy relatedcases stand registered against them. Some of the cases against Sajad includecase FIR No 16/2018 and case FIR No 28/2019 pertaining to Lethpora attack.Cases registered against Tawseef include case FIR No 95/2018. Incriminatingmaterial including arms and ammunition was recovered from the site ofencounter. All these materials have been taken into case records for furtherinvestigation,” the spokesman added.
He said, “People are requested to cooperate with police tillthe area is completely sanitized and cleared of all the explosive materials ifany.”