Srinagar: Five militants who were killed in twin encounters in Kulgam district of south Kashmir Wednesday evening have been identified and Inspector General of Police, Kashmir, Vijay Kumar has termed killing of HM commander Shakir Nazir a “big success”.
The encounters took place in Gopalpora and Pombay areas of Kulgam district on Wednesday evening. Police identified them as Aafaq Sikander Lone (District commander TRF) son of Mohammad Sikander Lone resident of Raykapran Shopian and Irfan Mushtaq Lone son of Mushtaq Ahmad Lone resident of Shedcheck Aawneera.
In Pombay the killed militants were identified as Shakir Najar (Deputy District Commander HM) resident of Ponipora Kulgam and Sumair Najar resident of Kanipora Shopian affiliated with proscribed terror outfit HM & TRF respectively. While as the identification and affiliation of the third killed ‘terrorist’ is being ascertained, police said.
Inspector General of Police, Kashmir, Zone, Vijay Kumar has termed the killing of Shakir “a big success”. He said this in a Tweet on Thursday morning. “PombaiKulgamEncounterUpdate: Top terrorist & HM’s district commander Shakir Nazar who was active since 2018 #killed along with two other terrorists. A big #success: IGP Kashmir@JmuKmrPolice,” Kashmir Zone Police said in a Tweet.
Earlier police a statement said: “Acting on specific inputs generated by Kulgam Police about presence of terrorists in twin villages of Kulgam, two anti-terrorist operations were carried out in which five terrorists were eliminated,” police said. “The killed terrorists include terrorist commander of proscribed terror outfit TRF namely Aafaq Sikander.”
“At about 1700hrs, acting on specific information regarding presence of terrorists in village Pambay area of Kulgam, a joint cordon & search operation was launched by Police & 9RR in the said area. Similarly, another cordon & search operation was launched by Police & 34RR in village Gopalpora,” police said. “During both the operations, ample opportunities were given to the trapped terrorists to surrender, however they starting firing indiscriminately on the search teams which was retaliated leading to encounters.”
“In the ensuing encounter at Gopalpora, two terrorists were killed and their bodies were recovered from the site of encounter. They have been identified as Aafaq Sikander Lone (District commander TRF) son of Mohammad Sikander Lone resident of Raykapran Shopian and Irfan Mushtaq Lone son of Mushtaq Ahmad Lone resident of Shedcheck Aawneera, Shopian. One AK-47 rifle and one pistol recovered,” the police statement said.
Police said, as per police records,: “Killed terrorist Aafaq Sikendar was involved in many terror crime cases including in civilian atrocities and attacks on security forces. He was involved in killing of Police personnel Nissar Ahmad Wagay on 07/08/2021 at Pambay Crossing, killing of non-local labour Shankar Kumar Choudhary at Nehama Kulgam on 17/09/2021. Besides, he was also involved in grenade attacks on security forces including attack on 18Bn CRPF at Nehama. He also carried out an attack on SHO Manzgam in which 04 police personnel got injured,” they said.
Similarly in the encounter at Pambay, police said: “Three terrorists were killed and their bodies were retrieved from the site of encounter. Two of them have been identified as Shakir Najar (Dy District Commander HM) resident of Ponipora Kulgam and Sumair Najar resident of Kanipora Shopian affiliated with proscribed terror outfit HM & TRF respectively. While as the identification and affiliation of the third killed terrorist is being ascertained. As per source third terrorist might be Aslam Dar District Commander of HM. However exact identification will be established after matching of DNA samples. The killed terrorists were involved in various terror crime cases including civilian atrocities. Pertinently terrorist Shakir Najar was active since April 2018,” police said.
Police said incriminating materials, including arms and ammunition (two AK-47 rifles and one pistol) were recovered from both the sites of encounters. All the recovered materials have been taken into case records for further investigation, it said.
IGP Kashmir has termed both operations as big success and congratulated the joint teams for carrying out the said operations in professional manner without collateral damage.
Police have registered cases in both the incidents under relevant section of law in respective police stations and further investigation is in progress.