Two houses, cowshed damaged in firefight

Shopian: Five militants including a top Hizbul Mujahideen commander were killed in an encounter with government forces at Reban village of south Kashmir’s Shopian on Sunday.
Two residential houses were also destroyed during the encounter which lasted for 12 hours.
Reban is situated some 17 kilometers from district headquarters Shopian and the village shares a border with Kulgam district.
Police said that a cordon and search operation was launched by a joint team of government forces including 1 Rashtriya Rifles of army, police and paramilitary CRPF in the village based on inputs about the presence of militants.
They said that contact with militants was established on Sunday morning, at which a gunfight ensued.
As news of the encounter spread in the area, youth hit the streets and started pelting government forces with stones.
The forces retaliated by firing tear smoke shells and sound canisters to disperse them. There were no reports of any injury on either side.
Police in a statement said that five militants were killed in the Reban encounter and their bodies were retrieved from the gunfight site. However, the identification and affiliation of the killed militants was not revealed.
Police said that among the slain militants was a top commander and that the militants were affiliated with Hizbul Mujahideen.
According to the police spokesperson, families of the killed militants can approach them for identification.
“Incriminating material including arms and ammunition were recovered from the site of encounter,” the police statement added.
In the encounter, a cowshed was razed to the ground and a cow, an ox and a calf were killed.
Meanwhile, internet services were barred in the district soon after the encounter broke out.

Raashid Hassan