Srinagar: Three militants were killed since last night and one of them was district commander of Hizb-ul-Mujahideen for Kulgam and one “tasked to carry out fidayeen attack”, police said on Friday.
“On November 11, acting on specific inputs regarding presence of (militants) in Kulgam and Srinagar, two anti-(militancy) operations were carried out in which three militants were neutralised which include district commander of (Hizb-ul-Mujahideen),” a police spokesperson said in a statement to GNS .
One of the operations, he said, took place in village Chancer Chawalgam area of Kulgam where a joint cordon and search operation was launched by Police, army’s 9RR and 18 batallion of CRPF.
During the search operation, he said, as the presence of militants got ascertained, they were given opportunity to surrender. However, he said, the militants fired indiscriminately upon the joint party.
“The joint teams ensuring safety of civilians rescued and shifted all the civilians to safer places. The fire was retaliated, leading to an encounter.”
In the initial exchange of fire, he said, one militant was killed. However, he said, due to darkness the operation remained suspended throughout the night. “In the wee hours, repeated announcements were again made to the hiding (militant) to surrender, but (he) again fired on joint search party which was retaliated, leading to his killing.”
Later they were identified as District commander of Hizb Shiraz Ahmad alias Shiraz Molvi alias Abu Haris, a resident of Souch Kulgam and his associate Yawar Ahmad Bhat of Ponipora Kulgam.
As per police records, he said, both the duo was part of groups involved in several attack on security forces.
“Shiraz Molvi was an A++ categorized (militant) and was active since 2016 figuring among the list of most wanted (militants). He was also involved in recruiting innocent youth into (militant) ranks and killing civilians as well as political workers in Devsar and Brazloo areas of Kulgam.”
There are 15 FIRs registered against him for several cases, the spokesperson said.
“Moreover, acting on specific input about possible attack and movement of (militants) in Bemina area, a joint checkpoint was established to thwart such evil designs. In the mean time, terrorists attacked on a checkpoint established near Bund Bemina which was retaliated, leading to an encounter,” he said. The further reinforcement was rushed to the spot while army’s 2RR and Valley QRT CRPF also joined the operation.
“In the ensuing encounter, one (militant) of outfit Mujahideen Gazwatul Hind was killed and his body was retrieved from the site of encounter.”
He has been identified as Amir Riyaz resident of Khrew Pampore, the spokesperson said.
“It is pertinent to mention that the killed (militant) was relative of one of the accused (militants) of Lethpora attack and preliminary investigation indicated that he was assigned to carry out similar kind of fidayeen attack,” he said, adding, “Digital evidences recovered from his mobile show that he was prepared by (militant) outfit for fidayeen attack.”
He said incriminating materials, arms and ammunition including one AK-rifle and a pistol from Kulgam encounter site and one-AK-rifle from Bemina encounter site.
IGP Kashmir Vijay Kumar, he said, congratulated the joint teams for carrying out both the operations in “professional manner.” He said 133 militants including many top commanders have been killed during this year. (GNS)
