Security forces shot dead two top Hizbul Mujahideen militants including a “district commander” in an encounter in south Kashmir’s Shopian district on Thursday. Four militants were killed in Pulwama and Kupwara in the past three days since Mehbooba Mufti took over as Chief Minister on April 4. Sources said that a group of militants gave a gun salute to a slain ultra after the funeral in his native village, while protesters hijacked a mobile police bunker and torched it at a distance.
Police said that following specific information, policemen and Army soldiers cordoned off Vihil Village in Shopian district on Thursday morning.
“A house where the two militants were hiding was surrounded. The duo tried to escape from the cordon and opened fire on the troops. During the retaliatory fire, they were killed in a brief encounter in the open fields,” police said.
The slain militants were identified as Waseem Ahmad Malla and Naseer Ahmad Pandit. Pandit, a resident of Karimabad Village in Pulwama was a police deserted who joined militant ranks last year after escaping from a former Minister’s residence along-with two service rifles.
Following the killing of the two militants, protests erupted in twin districts of Shopian and Pulwama.
Sources said that while the body of a slain militant was being carried to his native village, some protesters attacked a mobile police bunker in Pulwama town and beat up policemen on board. later they snatched keys from the driver of the vehicle and drove it to a distance of three kilometres before torching it.
locals said that a group of militants appeared in Karimabad Village when Pandit’s body reached there. “They (militants) fired in the air and disappeared from the scene. This was a gun salute to the slain militant,” a local resident said. Hundreds of people chanting pro-azaadi slogans took part in the funeral prayers.
Police said two AK-47 rifles, 183 rounds, six magazines, two grenades, two electronic detonators, a wire-cutter and currency notes were recovered from the possession of the slain militants.
“The killed militant Anam-ul-Haq Malla was active from 2012 and was involved in many militancy related activities including attack on police guard deployed at Pargochi Shopian where he had snatched two SlR rifles,” the spokesman said.
Four militants have been killed in the past three days in Kashmir Valley.
On Tuesday, a militant Fayaz Ahmad was killed in Gadoora Village of Pulwama while another militant was killed on Wednesday in lolab pocket of north Kashmir’s Kupwara district.