Hyderpora Encounter: Bodies of civilians likely to be handed over to families tonight

The bodies of the civilians killed in the Hyderpora gunfight will likely be handed over to their families tonight as legal formalities for their exhumation have been completed.

Srinagar: The Jammu and Kashmir administration is likely going to hand over the bodies of the two civilians killed in the Hyderpora encounter to their families tonight.

Sources told ETV Bharat that the bodies were exhumed from the graves in Handwara's Waderbala where they were buried by police on Tuesday.

The families of Altaf Ahmad Bhat and Dr Mudasir Gul have been protesting for the last three days demanding bodies so that they can perform last rites.

Political parties in the Valley also joined the families' demand and asked the LG administration to hand over bodies to the families for last rites.

Sources said the families have been informed by the police that bodies will be handed over to them tonight and only close family members will be allowed in the funeral. However, there was no confirmation about the body of Amir Magray from Ramban, they added.

Sources said that police has made tight security arrangements in Barzulla and Kanipora to prevent any law and order situation during the funeral.

Four persons were killed in the Hyderpora encounter on Monday evening which included two civilians from Srinagar - Altaf Ahmad Bhat and Dr Mudasir Gul and a young man Amir Magrey from Ramban.

Police said that a foreign militant identified as Haidar alias Bilal Bai was also killed in the operation.

However, the families of Bhat, Gul and Magray refuted the police claims saying that their relatives were innocent civilians and were killed by the security forces in cold blood.

The three civilians were buried in a far off graveyard in the Handwara area of north Kashmir in the Kupwara district.

Inspector General of Police for Kashmir zone, Vijay Kumar in an earlier press conference had said that building owner Altaf Ahmed was a civilian who got killed in a crossfire but Dr Mudasir Gul was an OGW while the third one identified as Amir Ahmed was a hybrid militant.