One of them had joined militancy 4 days ago, the other was lone son of his parents

Shopian: Two teenaged militants, one of them the lone son of his parents, were killed in a five-hour-long encounter at their native Kutpora village, some five kilometers from district headquarters Shopian, on Tuesday.
Locals from Kutpora village told Kashmir Reader that a pre-dawn cordon and search operation was launched in the village by a joint team of government forces including 34 Rashtriya Rifles of army, 14th battalion of Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), and Jammu and Kashmir Police.
They said that gunshots were heard at about 6 in the morning. Police sources said that after an initial exchange of fire, the operation was halted for about four hours during which both the militants were asked to surrender.
Locals said that all the family members who were at home were brought to the encounter site and they appealed to their sons to surrender. Both the young militants refused to lay down arms.
Police sources said that both militants were killed in a room of a residential house which was separate from living quarters and no damage was caused to the civilian property.
A villager told Kashmir Reader that the forces withdrew from the area at about 3pm after carrying out thorough searches of the area post the killing of the militants.
The slain militants were identified as Umer Mushtaq, son of Mushtaq Ahmad Lone, and Irfan Ahmad, son of Mohammad Ishaq Thoker.
Umer, according to family sources, had joined militant ranks four days ago. His father and three brothers were arrested by government forces a few days ago and are still in detention, the family sources said. Umer was a Class 12 student and the youngest among the siblings.
Irfan, according to his family, had joined militant ranks on August 8 this year. He was a first-year undergraduate student before he joined militancy.
Family sources said that Irfan was the lone son of parents and has left behind two sisters and his mother and father. His father is a carpenter by profession.

Raashid Hassan