Five militants, together with a 14-year-old boy, have been killed in two separate encounters in South Kashmir in a single day, taking the variety of militants killed within the area throughout the previous 72 hours to 12.
The boy, Faisal Gulzar Ganai, had gone lacking simply two days in the past, and had joined the militants. Two of the 5 slain militants have been liable for the killing of a Territorial Army (TA) soldier in Bijbehara on Friday, police mentioned.
Late on Saturday afternoon, a joint staff of Jammu and Kashmir Police, Army, and paramilitary forces started cordon-and-search operations at Reban village in South Kashmir’s Shopian following inputs in regards to the presence of militants.
As the forces zeroed in on the goal space, the trapped militants opened fireplace, triggering a gunfight. Police mentioned the forces gave ample time to the militants to give up, particularly the 14-year-old boy, whose household they referred to as to the positioning of the encounter.
“They (militants) were given an opportunity to surrender. However, they fired indiscriminately upon the joint search party which was retaliated, leading to an encounter. In the initial retaliatory firing, one terrorist was killed, but the operation was suspended to give the trapped terrorists another chance to surrender,” police mentioned in an official assertion.
“The joint teams exercised maximum restraint and facilitated the presence of family members of terrorist Faisal Gulzar to encounter site so as to persuade him to surrender. However, despite repeated appeals by his family members and assurances by the security forces, the other terrorists didn’t allow him to surrender,” the assertion mentioned.
Two different militants holed up on the encounter web site have been killed early on Sunday, police mentioned. One of them has been recognized as Aasif Ahmad Ganai; the id of the opposite militant was being ascertained, police mentioned.
Both Aasif Ahmad and the boy, Faisal Gulzar, belonged to Chitragam, Shopian, police mentioned. They mentioned the militants have been related to the al-Badr outfit, and {that a} rifle and two pistols had been recovered from them.
Two troopers have been injured within the alternate of fireside with the militants, police mentioned.
Faisal is the fourth – and youngest – teenage militant to have been killed within the Valley within the final 4 years. In 2016, Faizan Ahmad Bhat (15) was killed in a gunfight together with Hizbul Mujahideen commander Sabzar Ahmad Bhat at Tral in South Kashmir. A 12 months later, Mudasir Rashid Parray (15) and Saqib Bilal Sheikh (16) have been killed in an encounter in Hajin city in North Kashmir.
Around the identical time because the operation in Shopian was launched, one other joint staff of forces cordoned off Semthan village of Bijbehara in Anantnag. Two militants have been killed within the gunbattle that ended on Sunday morning.
“The joint team (of forces) rescued all the civilians trapped in the gunfire and halted the operation for the night,” police mentioned. “In the wee hours, after ensuring all the civilians are safe, the operation was resumed and both the terrorists were eliminated in the ensuing encounter.”
Police recognized the slain militants as Towseef Ahmad Bhat and Aamir Hussain Ganie of Bijbehara. They have been related to the Lashkar-e-Taiba, police mentioned.
According to police, Towseef had been lively since 2017, whereas Aamir had joined militancy in 2018. They had been concerned in a number of militant actions, together with the killing of Mohammad Saleem Akhoon, an off-duty Territorial Army soldier who was killed in Bijbehara on Friday.
Police claimed to have recovered two AK rifles from the slain militants.
