Anantnag: Three local militants affiliated with Al-Badr outfit were killed on Wednesday in a gunfight with government forces in Tikken village of south Kashmir’s Pulwama district.
A civilian son of the owner of the house in which militants were holed up was also injured in crossfire. He was identified as Zameer Sadiq Lone son of Sadiq Lone.
“He was injured during crossfire and has sustained a bullet wound in his right foot. He has been shifted to SMHS hospital in Srinagar for further treatment,” a police source told Kashmir Reader.
A police spokesperson identified the slain militants as Mehraj-u-Din Lone of Arigam Pulwama, Umar Ali of Dadsara in Tral and Owais Farooq of Sugan in Shopian.
The bodies of the killed militants were dispatched to Baramulla for burial after completion of medico-legal formalities, it said.
Inspector General of Police (IGP) Kashmir Vijay Kumar confirmed the killing of three militants. “All three of them are local and part of the Al-Badr outfit,” he said.
Giving out the details of the gunfight, a senior police official from Pulwama district said that the operation was launched in Tikken village in the wee hours of Wednesday following inputs regarding presence of militants.
“It was a joint operation. Soon after the cordon was laid, the house where militants were holed up, was identified and asked to lay down their arms,” the official said. He added that the militants however chose to fight and opened indiscriminate fire at around 5:45 AM.
“The gunfight continued till about noon and all three militants were neutralized in exchange of fire,” the official said, “Bodies of the militants have been retrieved along with arms and ammunition.
The official said that a civilian was also injured while he was coming out from the house the militants were holed up in. “He has been shifted to Srinagar and is stable,” he added.
This was the first gunfight in south Kashmir since the beginning of the District Development Council polls in Kashmir. The authorities snapped mobile internet services in the district soon after the first shots were fired.

Suhail A Shah