A fierce gun-battle in south Kashmir’s Pulwama district left two cadre of banned Jaish-e-Muhammad outfit dead even as protests erupted in the town against sealing several villages during the flush-out operation.
One of the slain militants was the “divisional commander” of the outfit founded by Pakistani militant Maulana Masood Azhar after his release in the exchange of the passengers of hijacked Indian Airlines plane in 1999.
Police said the killing of Altaf Ahmad Baba alias Ghazi Baba was a strong blow to militancy in south Kashmir and a major success on the anti-insurgency front.
The gun-battle triggered in Yechgoz village on the outskirts of Pulwama on Wednesday afternoon when Rashtriya Rifles troops and J&K Police cordoned off a residential house following input on presence of militants there.
There was a lull in the firing late in the evening after the death of Baba but it resumed in the morning when another holed up militant engaged the security forces.
The exchange of fire stopped after another militant was gunned down. “The second militant has been identified as Abbas Nengroo of Jaish-e-Muhammad outfit,” Muzaffar Ahmad, Station House Officer of Rajpora police station said.
Police said the slain militants were wanted for several violent acts including target killing of many civilians. “Altaf Baba was involved in the civilian killings of Nazir Ahmad Chopan, a resident of Kandipora and Mohammad Ahsan Wani, a resident of Kanigam. He was also involved in abduction of Shameem Ahmad Dar, a resident of Aglar, Kandi besides his involvement in a number of firing incidents in the jurisdiction of the Rajpora police station,” a police spokesman said.
He said that Baba had joined the JeM militant outfit in 2008. He was motivated by Sajad Afgani alias Ahsan Bhai of Pakistan to join militant ranks and later replaced him after his death in an encounter, the police said.
Both Baba and Nengroo were local residents. last week, the police and security forces shot dead two local militants belonging to Hizbul Mujahideen outfit in adjoining Shopian district.
Sources said that a group of youngsters took to streets in Pulwama and pelted stones towards security forces when the encounter was raging in the area. The security forces fired bullets in air to scare away the protesters who shouted slogans in favour of slain militants.