Bijbehara: Three local militants, one of them a commander of the Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT), were killed Wednesday in a fierce gunfight between with government forces, here in Bijbehara town of South Kashmir’s Anantnag district.
An army man was also injured during the gunfight, who was evacuated to a hospital and is said to be stable. Defense spokesperson, Colonel Rajesh Kalia, said that his identification will be conveyed to the media later.
“Three militants have been killed and an army man has been injured. The identities of the slain militants have been ascertained. The injured army man’s identity will be intimated to the media later,” the spokesperson told Kashmir Reader.
The slain militants have been identified as LeT commander Nasir Gulzar, a resident of Arwini in Anantnag; Zahid Farooq Lone, a resident of Taqia Maqsood Shah village of Anantnag and Aqib Ahmad Hajam, a resident of Redwini Payeen area of Kulgam district in South Kashmir.
Lone was associated with Hizb-ul-Mujhideen and had joined the militant ranks last year. Hajam was a member of the LeT and had joined the outfit, in April this year, along with Gulzar.
The gunfight erupted at around 3:00am on Wednesday in Pazalpora village of Bijbehara.
“A CASO was launched in the area following inputs regarding presence of militants,” a senior police official from Anantnag told Kashmir Reader.
He said that the militants fired from a residential house, while a search operation was being carried out in the area. “The fire was retaliated and after around five hours of gunfight the militants were neutralized,”
The official said that two pistols and an INSAS rifle were retrieved along with the bodies of the militants from the gunfight site.
Local sources told Kashmir Reader that the government forces used heavy explosives to blow apart the house militants were holed up in.
“The explosions were so strong that people living as far as 5 kilometers from the site of the gunfight heard them,” the sources said.
Locals told Kashmir Reader that two houses were damaged by explosions, “one completely and another partially”.
Clashes also erupted around the site of the gunfight at the break of dawn as hundreds of people tried to march towards the site. Police used tear smoke shells and baton charge to disperse the protesting youth.
The clashes continued for a while before the encounter was declared over and the government forces left the site.
Authorities had also imposed strict restrictions in Bijbehara, Anantnag town and all routes leading to the native villages of the slain militants. However, despite the restrictions hundreds of people managed to reach the villages and took part in the funeral prayers.

Suhail A Shah