Three Hizbul Mujahideen militants were killed in an overnight encounter in Dadsara village of south Kashmir’s Tral sub-division on Thursday.
The slain militants have been identified as Ashiq Hussain Bhat, Mohammad Isaq Parray and Asif Ahmed Mir.
National Investigation Agency (NIA) was on the lookout of Ashiq Hussain Bhat, a resident of Charsoo village on Srinagar-Jammu National Highway, for his involvement in escorting and sheltering three lashkar-e-Tayyeba (leT) militants who carried out attack on a Border Security Force (BSF) convoy near Udhampur in August 2015. Two BSF personnel were killed in the attack.
Bhat and Mir were cousins while Parray has been a meritorious student who secured 98.4 per cent marks in his matriculation examination a few years ago. Known as Newton for his academic record, Parray had joined the militant ranks in March last and remained active for exactly one year.
Three AK series rifles with six magazines and some quantity of ammunition have been recovered from the encounter site.
Sources said that the three militants were hiding in a single-storey house at Mir Mohalla in Dadsara village, 35 kilometers south from here where Army and local police launched a cordon and search operation on Wednesday evening following specific information about their presence.
While cordon was being laid, hundreds of local residents attempted to intervene and provide safe passage to the holed up militants. They staged protests, chanted slogans and used Public Address System of the mosques to gather people to disrupt the cordon and search operation.
Security forces fired tear smoke shells to disperse the marching crowds. One protester was wounded in the police action.
The security forces launched assault on the holed up militants late in the night. Sources said that they were gunned down past midnight between 2 and 3 am. There was no casualty on the security forces’ side.
Eyewitnesses said that the bodies of slain militants were recovered from the encounter site before the crack of dawn and handed over to their next of kin. Thousands of people attended the funeral prayers, which were repeatedly offered at several places. A shutdown was observed in the area.
The three militants were part of Hizb group headed by Burhan Muzaffar Wani, who is “divisional commander” of the outfit in south Kashmir. Wani was in headlines during 2015 for his variety of videos and pictures uploaded on social networking sites.