Srinagar: Two militants affiliated to two different militant groups were killed in an encounter in Tral area of Pulwama district in south Kashmir on Wednesday, while Inspector General of Police, Kashmir Zone, Vijay Kumar said that the killed militants were involved in civilian killings, besides other militant crimes.
The encounter broke out in Tral after J&K Police, 42 Rashtriya Rifles and Central Reserve Police Force started searches in the area to trace the militants. As searches were going on, hiding militants opened and in retaliatory action two militants were killed. Police identified them as Umar Nabi Teli @Talha son of Ghulam Nabi Teli resident of Ladoo Khrew and Shafat Muzaffar Sofi @Muavia son of Muzaffar Ahmad Sofi resident of Batagund Tral. They, police said, were affiliated with AGuH and LeT.
“Encounter has started in the Tral area of Awantipora. Police and security forces are on the job. Further details shall follow.,” Kashmir Zone Police Tweeted on Wednesday morning.
“AwantiporaEncounterUpdate: 1 terrorist killed. Operation in progress. Further details shall follow.@JmuKmrPolice,” Police said in another Tweet after some time.
Later in the afternoon IGP Kashmir in a tweet said that two militants were killed. “AGuH terrorist Safat Muzzaffar Sofi @ Muavia and LeT’s terrorist Umer Teli @ Talha killed in Tral. Before shifting to Tral area both were involved in several terror crimes in Srinagar city including recent killing of Sarpanch (Sameer Ahmad) in Khanmoh Srinagar: IGP Kashmir,” IGP Kashmir said in another Tweet.
“Based on a specific input generated by Ganderbal Police regarding presence of terrorists in Tral area of Awantipora, a raid was conducted by Awantipora Police in the said area,” police said. “During the raid as the search party proceeded towards the suspected spot, the hiding terrorists fired indiscriminately upon the search party which was retaliated effectively leading to an encounter.”
“In the ensuing encounter, one terrorist was neutralised and another was holed up,” police said. “Meanwhile, reinforcements of Army (42RR ) & 180Bn CRPF reached the encounter site and joined the operation. The joint team later neutralized the second holed up terrorist and the bodies were retrieved from the site of encounter. They have been identified as Umar Nabi Teli @Talha son of Ghulam Nabi Teli resident of Ladoo Khrew and Shafat Muzaffar Sofi @Muavia son of Muzaffar Ahmad Sofi resident of Batagund Tral.”
As per police records, police said: “Both the killed terrorists were categorized terrorists and linked with proscribed terror outfits AuGH and LeT and involved in several terror crime cases including attacks on Police/SF and civilian atrocities,” police said.
“Before shifting to Tral area, both the killed terrorists were involved in several terror crimes in Srinagar city including recent killing of Sarpanch (Sameer Ahmad) in Khanmoh Srinagar. Besides, the killed terrorist Shafat Muzaffar Sofi was also involved in grenade throwing on CRPF Camp on 19/03/2022 and case FIR No. 09/2021 of PS Tral regarding recovery of IED material. Moreover, both the killed terrorists were attempting to revive the terror folds by being instrumental in motivating gullible youth to join terror folds.”
Incriminating materials, arms and ammunition were recovered from the site of the encounter. All the recovered materials have been taken into case records for further investigation. In this regard, a case under relevant sections of law has been registered and investigation has been initiated. People are requested to cooperate with Police till the area at the encounter site is completely sanitized and cleared of all the explosive materials, if any. Talking to media persons, IGP Kashmir said that militant groups are in a state of frustration.
Responding to questions about militants resorting to soft target attacks on civilians including CRPF men in Maisuma in which one paramilitary trooper was killed and another injured, IGP Kashmir said;
“ We have neutralised 66 terrorists of proscribed terror outfits JeM and LeT this winter season i,e from December 21 to March 22, which has led to frustration among them, who are now attacking the soft targets,” he said. Regarding the Tral encounter, IGP said:
“ AGuH terrorist Shafat Muzzaffar Sofi alias Muavia and LeT’s Umer Teli alias Talha were both local terrorists and were operating in Srinagar,” he said adding that after civilian and soft target killing, they shifted to Tral area and were tracked and neutralised.
Regarding recent attacks in Pulwama, Vijay Kumar said: “Poor labourers from outside who had come here to earn their livelihood were attacked. We have identified the involved terrorist and very soon he will be neutralised,” he said. “Similarly, police has got some leads regarding targeting of a Kashmiri Pandit in a remote village of Shopian and the involved terrorist shall also be neutralised soon.”
To a question if Pakistani terrorists were “using local terrorists,” the IGP Kashmir said, “You have seen that several foreign terrorists were killed. However the foreign terrorists use local terrorists as a shield, as recently in Shopian where one local terrorist was killed while a Pakistani terrorist escaped from the encounter site and put local terrorist at the forefront,” he said.
The IGP Kashmir also said that in view of soft target attacks by terrorists, the night patrolling has been enhanced and joint patrolling of police and security forces is being carried with security forces in vulnerable areas.