Anantnag: Police on Thursday said that two militants of The Resistance Front (TRF), an offshoot of Lashkar-e-Toiba were killed in an overnight gunfight in Kulgam district of south Kashmir.
The duo was identified as Amir Bashir Dar, alias Danish, a resident of Kujjar Yaripora and Adil Yousuf Shan, a resident of Sursuna village in Kulgam district. According to Police, TRF is an offshoot of Lashkar-e-Toiba.
“They had joined the outfit in April and October months of this year in that order,” a senior police official from the area said. The gunfight took place in Redwini Bala area of Kulgam district.
The police official said that a Cordon and Search Operation was launched in the area at about 7 PM, Wednesday following inputs regarding the presence of militants in the area.
“The hideout of the militants was zeroed in on and they were asked to lay down their arms,” the official said, adding that the militants, however, chose to open fire at the security detail.
The fire, he said, was retaliated and a gunfight ensued at about 10 PM. “Intermitted exchange of fire continued till the wee hours of this morning before both the militants were killed,” the official said.
A local source told Kashmir Reader that the militants dashed out of the house they were hiding in, after it was severely damaged by the explosives used by the forces.
“They tried to escape but were gunned down in the courtyard, both of them,” the local source told Kashmir Reader. Bodies of both the militants were retrieved by the forces.
“Apart from arms and ammunition, some incriminating material was also retrieved from their possession,” the official said. It includes two pistols, two magazines, seven pistol rounds and one grenade. All the recovered materials have been taken into case records for further investigation, police said.
The bodies, after identification and other medico-legal formalities, were sent to North Kashmir for burial, which has been the standard practice now. The authorities in Kashmir have refused to hand over bodies of slain militants to their families, citing Covid protocol, since April last year.
There has been an uptick in violence in the Kashmir valley this week. The week started off with the killing of two militants in the Rangreth area of Srinagar, Monday morning.
On the same evening, militants ambushed a police bus in the Zewan area on Srinagar outskirts, leaving 3 policemen dead and at least 11 others injured. This has been the deadliest militant attack in the Kashmir valley this year.
Tuesday night, police claimed to have killed a district commander of Hizb-ul-Mujahideen in a gunfight in Pulwama district.

Suhail A Shah