Bandipora: Police today identified the three militants who were killed in a gunfight on Saturday in the forest areas of Sumlar-Argam in north Kashmir’s Bandipora district.
Police said one of the slain militants was local and two others were foreigners.
Inspector General of Police, Kashmir, Vijay Kumar told media that the local slain militant Shakir Altaf had “exfiltrated in 2018 via the Wagah border”.
A senior police officer involved in the operation in Bandipora told Greater Kashmir that Shakir had recently come back to Bandipora after infiltrating via LoC. “He had received armed training in Pakistan,” he said. Relatives of the slain local militant at Bandipora town said that the family members had been called last night by police for his last rites in Handwara village of Kupwara district where Shakir was buried along with another foreign militant.
The official said that the body of third militant was retrieved on Sunday from the forests, while three AK-14 rifles belonging to the militants were also recovered.
Meanwhile, the officials said that the gunfight was operationally over but joint searches by 13&14RR, 3 Para SF, Marcos along with J&K police and CRPF were on to rule out the presence of any other militant in the forest stretch of Sumlar and Aragam.
The search operation was on when this report was filed.
CASO in Chittaybanday village
A cordon and search operation was launched on Sunday in Chittaybanday village near the forest area of Aargam in north Kashmir’s Bandipora district. Local sources said that army personnel of 13RR and other security agencies along with J&K police were conducting the searches. A police official said that the CASO was launched after specific inputs about the presence of the militants in the area.