Ex-militant gunned down at SOG camp in Pulwama

A former militant, who snatched a rifle from a policeman during questioning in the SOG camp, was shot dead at around 4 am today in south Kashmir's Pulwama district. Police have later identified the slain youth as Mohammad Amin, brother of a militant who was killed in 2019. Amin, an ex-militant, was released in 2003.

Srinagar: A surrendered militant, who shot at and injured a constable inside a SOG camp in the Tral area of Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district, was killed in a gunbattle with security forces in the early hours of Thursday, officials said.

Mohammad Amin Malik was shot dead by the security forces following an overnight encounter, a police official said.

The gunbattle between the surrendered ex-militant and police broke out inside the Special Operations Group (SOG) camp in Tral on Wednesday evening.

Malik allegedly snatched the rifle of Constable Amjid Khan and shot at him. Khan was injured in the incident and evacuated to a hospital for treatment. The ex-militant then hid inside the camp along with the rifle.

The officials said Malik, a resident of Nagbal in the Tral area, had surrendered before security forces on May 30 along with a .12 bore rifle.

The security forces tried to persuade him to surrender on Wednesday and even called his parents to convince him to lay down the arms, the officials said, adding that Malik, however, refused the offer. He started firing towards the positions of the security personnel, who retaliated, leading to his death.

"His family including his mother was brought to the spot to persuade him to surrender but he continued to fire from inside the room, " IGP Kashmir Vijay Kumar said."This morning during the exchange of fire he was killed," Kumar added.

In another incident in south Kashmir's Tral, three militants shot dead a BJP councillor, Rakesh Pandita around 10:15 pm. The area has been cordoned off and a search operation is going on to nab the attackers. Terrorist organisations have been targeting the BJP leaders in the state since the successful District Development Council elections in Jammu and Kashmir. Five BJP leaders were killed last year in a spate of targeted killings.

(With inputs from agencies)