Srinagar: Seven militants were killed, three civilians and four personnel from the security forces were injured in two separate gunfights in south Kashmir on Friday, officials said.
According to the Inspector General of Police (Kashmir) Vijay Kumar, two militants were killed in the Tral area while five others were killed in the Shopian area. Both the encounters concluded at around 11:30 am following which the police officer said one of the slain was a top militant affiliated to Ansar Ghazwat ul Hind (AGH), an outfit, which has pledged its allegiance to Al Qaeda.
Inspector General of Police (Kashmir) Vijay Kumar, speaking to media on Friday As the gunfight ensued in Shopian last night, the security forces offered the militants an offer to surrender several times. The offer was made twice by the local Imam in the ongoing encounter and also by the family of one of the militants, however, failed to convince the militants to surrender.
On Friday, as the gunfight resumed protests broke out near the Shopian gunfight site following which at least three civilians were injured, who were later shifted to a local hospital for treatment. Their condition is said to be stable, IGP Vijay Kumar said.
GOC Victor force Maj Gen Rashim Bali told reporters during a presser in Srinagar that one officer and three Jawans were also injured in the gunfight. “They received minor injuries and their condition is stable,” he said.
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One of the militants killed in Shopian is yet to be identified and those who were identified by the police include locals of South Kashmir – Muzammil Tantray, Adil Lone, Younis Khanday and Basit Bakshi. Tantray and Lone had joined the militant ranks in 2019 while Khanday and Bakshi had joined last year.
Lt General DP Pandey, General-Officer-Commanding (GOC) of the Srinagar-based Chinar Corps said that the “cycle of violence” continues in the region, however, there has been a decrease in the recruitment of local militants this year so far.
One of the slain militants from the Tral area in Pulwama has been identified as Imtiyaz Shah, the police claimed was an A category militant associated with AGH. “We had recently written to PHQ to revise his category to an A+ as he was involved in various militancy-related incidents and attacks since he had joined in July 2019. He was also planning to carry out an attack on Amarnath Yatra pilgrims,” the IGP said during the press briefing.
“They have attacked soft-targets many times earlier including the civilians and Yatra pilgrims are also soft targets they plan to attack but we will ensure that all security measures are taken care of,” the IGP said.
The security officers claim all the militant groups in Kashmir including Hizb, Al Badr, Lashkar e Toiba, Jaish e Mohammad and AGH work closely with each other and there is an interchange of cadres especially between LeT and new outfits like The Resistance Front (TRF) or People’s Anti Fascist Front (PAFF), which have claimed various attacks in the region since last year.
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