Jaish militant who killed police SI among those slain in Pulwama: IGP

Anantnag: Four militants, “one of them the killer of a police Sub-Inspector”, were killed in two different overnight gunfights – one in north Kashmir’s Sopore district and another in south Kashmir’s Pulwama district, police said on Tuesday.
The police were yet to identify three of the slain militants when this report was filed. Inspector-General of Police, Kashmir, Vijay Kumar said that a Jaish militant responsible for the killing of a police Sub-Inspector has been neutralised.
“JeM’s Majid Nazir, killer of SI Farooq Ahmad Mir, has been neutralised in the Pulwama gunfight,” Kumar said.
SI Farooq Ahmad Mir was found dead, his body riddled with bullets, near his home in Samboora area of Pulwama district on June 17.
The identity of the other slain militants was being ascertained, Kumar said. Sources told Kashmir Reader that all the four slain militants were Kashmiris.
The first gunfight was reported from Tujjan area of Pulwama district, where the forces had launched a cordon and search operation at about midnight on Monday.
“Contact was soon established with the holed-up militants, and they were asked to surrender. They, however, opened indiscriminate fire, which was retaliated and two militants were killed,” a senior police official from Pulwama district said.
He said that arms, ammunition, and other incriminating material has been retrieved from the site of the gunfight along with the bodies of the two slain militants.
A couple of hours after the Pulwama operation started, another operation was launched in Tulail area of Sopore district. “We had specific inputs regarding the presence of militants in the area, following which the operation was launched,” a senior police official from the area said.
He said that the hiding militants were given ample chances to lay down their arms but they opened indiscriminate fire instead. “The fire was retaliated and at the end of a fierce gunfight the two militants were killed,” the official said. “Arms, ammunition, and other incriminating material have been retrieved along with the bodies of the two slain militants,” he added.
He said that the bodies will be sent for a quiet burial at an undisclosed location in north Kashmir, following the completion of medico-legal formalities.
Meanwhile, with the killing of these four militants, the total number of militants killed this year has gone up to 118. Of these, 32 were Pakistani nationals and the rest of them locals.
The last few days have been particularly bloody as 11 militants have been killed in a matter of just three days. Since June 19, five gunfights have been reported from different parts of Kashmir valley.

Suhail A Shah