Anantnag: Two militants affiliated with Jaish-e-Muhammad were killed in an overnight gunfight by government forces on Thursday morning here in Kandipora village on the outskirts of Bijbehara town in south Kashmir’s Anantnag district.
The slain militants were identified as Adil Ahmad Bhat, resident of Shithpora Bijbehara and Zahid Ahmad Rather of Sirhama Anantnag.
Before the identity of the duo was ascertained by police, Superintendent of Police Anantnag Sandeep Choudhary told reporters at the site of the gunfight that they had inputs the two belonged to Jaish. The identity of the slain was confirmed by police in their official handout.
The operation was launched by a joint team of government forces at about 5:30 pm Wednesday following inputs about presence of militants in the area.
“The holed up militants opened indiscriminate fire soon after the CASO was launched. The fire was retaliated briefly following which contact was lost with the holed up militants,” a senior police official from the area said.
He said that no further contact was made with the militants through the night for they had managed to take shelter and the operation too was put to a halt due to darkness.
“In the morning, the operation was resumed and the hiding place of militants was traced. They had taken shelter in a cowshed. They were given an option to surrender but they did not lay down their arms and chose to open fire again instead,” the police official said.
He said that both the militants were killed in the ensuing gunfight which started at about 8:30 Thursday and continued for at least three hours. “Bodies of the militants along with arms and ammunition were retrieved from the site of the gunfight,” the official said, adding that the bodies after an identification process will be sent to PCR Srinagar and then to north Kashmir for burial.
Local sources told Kashmir Reader that the cowshed where militants were holed up was completely damaged in the gunfight. “Some minor stone pelting was also witnessed a little further from the site of the gunfight this morning,” a local source told Kashmir Reader.
Mobile internet services were snapped in Anantnag district Tuesday evening and were yet to be restored while this report was being filed.

Suhail A Shah