4 militants killed in Shopian village

4 militants killed in Shopian village

Video shows wife, kid of one militant pleading to him to surrender

Shopian: After six days of relentless search operations in Shopian district, government forces killed four militants – holed up in a residential house in Batpora locality of Manihal village – while an army soldier sustained bullet injuries in the overnight gunfight. A residential house was also destroyed during the encounter which was called off at around 10:30 on Monday morning.
Clashes between government forces and protesters broke out near the gunfight site when the forces were leaving the site. However, there was no injury reported on either side.
Manihal village is situated some nine kilometers from the district headquarters and three kilometers from the nearest military facility in Imam Sahib.
According to police sources a cordon and search operation (CASO) in the village was launched by army’s 34 Rashtriya Rifles on Sunday night, after inputs about the presence of militants in the area. They said that the hiding militants opened fire during the searches, and a gunfight ensued.
Internet services in the area were suspended at around 12 midnight on Sunday even before any contact with militants was established.
The gunfight was the second since last week when two JeM militants including top JeM commander Sajad Afghani were killed at Afghani’s native village, Rawalpora.
The slain militants were identified as Aamir Shafi, son of Muhammad Shafi, resident of Manihal Batpora. According to police, he was missing from home since 13 February 2021; Rayees Ahmad Bhat, resident of DK Pora, who according to police was active since 13 October 2020; Aaqib Ahmad Malik, resident of Arshipora who was active from 25 December 2020; and Altaf Ahmad Wani, resident of Dashipora, active since 24 November 2020. All the slain militants belonged to district Shopian.
In a video, the family of one of the slain militants, Aqib Ahmad Malik of Arshipora, including his 5-year-old son and wife, can be seen at the encounter site pleading to Malik to lay down arms and surrender before the forces. “We came here in the dead of night to meet you; come out and surrender or kill us too,” the wife of Malik can be heard saying in the video which circulated on social media.
Malik’s 5-year-old son also appealed to his father to surrender. “Mai cxui Fairan cxoon, val naer nebar; yem karnay ni kihin (I miss you, come out; they (forces) won’t do anything to you,” his son, seen standing besides an armed forces personnel, can be heard saying.
According to official data, 19 militants have been killed in Kashmir since January this year and Shopian tops the number with 9 militants, including 6 this month, having been killed in the district.

 

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