Anantnag: Police on Monday said that two Al-Badr militants, who had recently joined the ranks, were killed in an overnight gunfight with government forces here in the Kulgam district of South Kashmir.
The slain militants have been identified as Imad Muzaffar Wani, a resident of Arigam in Pulwama, and Abdul Rasheed Thoker, a resident of Hassanpora Tabela in Kulgam district.
“Both had joined the militant ranks in December last year, just fifteen days apart. Wani had joined on December 19, while Thoker was active since December 5,” a police source told Kashmir Reader.
Inspector-General of Police, Vijay Kumar, said that Wani was involved in an attack on a policeman in Pulwama, on December 19. “A cop named Mushtaq Ahmad Wagay was seriously injured after he was shot at his home in Bandzoo village of Pulwama district. Wani was involved in the attack,” Kumar was quoted by a police spokesperson as saying.
The gunfight today took place in the Hassanpora area of Kulgam district. Late Sunday evening, a Cordon and Search Operation was launched in the area following inputs regarding the presence of militants, a police official from the area said.
“The house where militants were holed up was identified and zeroed in on. The militants were given a chance of surrender which they turned down and opened fire instead,” the official said.
He said that the fire was retaliated and in the ensuing gunfight both the militants were killed. “The bodies have been retrieved and sent to North Kashmir for burial,” the official said.
For about two years now, the authorities have been denying handing over the bodies of slain militants to their families, citing Covid protocol. The militants are being buried in unnamed graves at undisclosed locations in North Kashmir.
Sources in the police told Kashmir Reader that two pistols and two magazines have been retrieved from the possession of the slain militants. “Apart from some incriminating material,” they said.
Authorities had meanwhile snapped mobile internet services in parts of Anantnag and Kulgam districts, soon after the gunfight ensued. In some parts, the service was yet to be restored while this report was being filed.

Suhail A Shah