Number of militants now below 200, woman who hurled petrol bomb in Sopore identified: IGP Kashmir

Anantnag: Two militants from the Bijbehara area of Anantnag district were killed in a gunfight with government forces Wednesday morning in Rainawari area of Srinagar.
The slain militants were identified by police as Rayees Ahmad Bhat, a category-C militant from Shahabad locality of Veeri in Bijbehara and Hilal Ahmad Rah, a resident of Waghama village in Bijbehara.
“The two of them were active since last year and have been wanted in many militancy related crimes,” a police official said.
Inspector General of Police (IGP) Kashmir, Vijay Kumar, said that Rayees was a media person and operated an online news portal, Valley News Service, from Anantnag before joining the ranks.
“He was wanted in two FIRs. We are analyzing the digital device retrieved from his possession,” Kumar said.
Kumar said that the two of them had been assigned with hitting soft targets in Srinagar and timely action by the forces prevented such crimes by the militants.
The gunfight erupted in Rainawari area of Srinagar soon after an operation was launched by forces late Tuesday night.
“The militants were given a chance to lay down their arms but they instead opened fire, which was retaliated , triggering a gunfight,” a senior police official said.
He said that the two militants were gunned down in the gunfight, which concluded Wednesday morning.
“Both the bodies have been retrieved and will be sent to north Kashmir for burial later in the day,” the official said.
Authorities have refused to hand over bodies of slain militants to their families, since April 2020, when they cited Covid protocol as a reason.
Kumar, meanwhile, told media men in Srinagar that there has been a significant drop in the number of militants across Kashmir.
“Despite some people guessing that the number of militants might increase, it has been coming down,” Kumar said, “For the first time the number of active militants has come down below 200.”
He told media men that a woman, accused of hurling a petrol bomb on a CRPF camp in Sopore, has been identified and will be arrested soon.
The attack had taken place on Tuesday evening, following which the CCTV footage of a burqa-clad person throwing the bomb was circulated over social media.
Kumar has now confirmed that she was a woman and will be arrested soon.

Suhail A Shah