Protests erupted in south Kashmir’s Pulwama quarter on Thursday after security forces shot dead two lashkar-e-Tayyeba (leT) militants in a fierce gunfight. While one of the slain militants was a local cadre and his body was handed over to his relatives for burial, the other militant’s body was held back by the authorities. He is believed to be a Pakistani national.
The encounter erupted late on Wednesday evening when police and Rashtriya Rifles troops cordoned off Gusoo village in Pulwama, 35 kilometers from here. The cordon attracted focus when some media reports falsely claimed that Hizbul Mujahideen’s top-ranking militant Burhan Wani was present in the village.
Police said two leT militants were shot dead in the encounter on Thursday morning after intermittent firing continued throughout the night.
The two slain militants were listed by the National Investigating Agency for their involvement in August 5 fidayeen attack in Udhampur on Srinagar-Jammu National Highway. Two BSF men and a lashkar militant had been killed in the highway attack.
Thousands of people took part in the funeral prayers of local militant Manzoor Ahmad Bhat, a resident of Samboora village in Pampore. The other body was taken to Boniyar in north Kashmir’s Baramulla district for burial in a local graveyard. Most of the foreign militants and unidentified bodies have been buried in north Kashmir’s Kupwara and Baramulla districts in unmarked graves.
The authorities are cautious to hand over foreign militants’ bodies to locals where the encounters take place since the death of top lashkar Commander Abu Qasim on October 29. Thousands of people took part in Qasim’s funeral shouting azaadi slogans and waving Islamic flags in Kulgam. The authorities later arrested a local Islamic leader who had led the funeral prayers of the slain militant.
The killing of militants sparked spontaneous shutdown while agitated youth clashed with police in Pulwama and Kakapora. Reports said that youth attacked police station Kakapora with stones prompting police to resort to tear-gas shelling. Complete shutdown was observed in Pulwama, Samboora, Kakapora, Newa and Pampore town against the killing of these militants.
A police official said the slain militants were wanted by NIA and carried a bounty of Rs five lakh each. “They were involved in Udhampur attack and were active from last 15 months in south Kashmir,” he said.