• Nephew of former MLC of PDP among the killed militants

Shopian: Three militants including a Hizb commander were killed in a brief, pre-dawn encounter on the outskirts of Turkwangam village in the middle of the Rambiara rivulet, some 100 meters away from the army camp based in industrial estate of Lasipora Pulwama and 12 kilometers away from district headquarters of Shopian, on Tuesday.
This was the 4th encounter in the past nine days in Shopian district. A total of 17 militants have been killed in these seven encounters. Five militants belonging to district Kulgam were killed on June 7 at Reban village, four on June 8 at Pinjora, five more at Sugoo on June 10 and now three at Turkwangam on June 16.
Police in a statement said that a cordon and search operation was launched in the area based on credible inputs received by Jammu and Kashmir Police. They said that three militants including a top Hizb commander were killed in the forces’ action.
Addressing a joint press conference, IGP Kashmir Vijay Kumar said, “it was due to an excellent and swift action by Police, army and CRPF, the joint operation was carried out in a professional manner with no collateral damage. During the current year, 94 terrorists including top commanders have been killed so far.”
Of them 24 militants were killed in the past two weeks mostly in Shopian. The bodies of three killed militants were sent to Baramulla for their last rites after conducting medico-legal formalities including collection of their DNA, he added.
He further said, “in case any family claims the killed terrorists to be their kith or kin, they can come forward for the identification and participation in last rites at Baramulla.”
Locals said that gunshots were heard around 5 am which lasted for 40 minutes. They said that the gunfight took place in the middle of the rivulet some 300 meters away from residential houses. A local said that there was a clear view of the spot from the 44 RR camp of Lasipora which comes under jurisdiction of Pulwama district on the border of Shopian.
The militants were identified by local sources as Zubair Ahmad Wani, son of Nazir Ahmad Wani, resident of Turkwagam. He according to police was active since 27 June 2017 and was district commander of Hizb. The second militant was identified as Kamran Zahoor Manhas, son of Zahoor Ahmad Manhas, resident of Shahdab Kraeva and was active since March 2 this year. He was the nephew of a former MLC of the People’s Democratic Party. The third militant was identified as Muneeb-ul-Islam Shah, son of Habibullah Shah, resident of Sugan and said to be active since June 10, 2019.

Raashid Hassan