2 Hizb militants killed in Tral

Majid Jahangir

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, February 28

Two militants of the pro-Pakistan Hizbul Mujahideen were killed in an encounter in south Kashmir’s Pulwama district today.

The encounter, which left the two local militants dead, broke in Tral exactly a month after Colonel Munindra Nath Rai, Commanding Officer of 42 Rashtriya Rifles (RR), was killed in another encounter in the same area.

The police said an encounter broke late Friday evening when a joint operation was launched after an input about the presence of militants by the Special Operation Group of the J&K Police, 42 Battalion of the Rashtriya Rifles and Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) in Moominabad Ratsuna, Tral, 45 km from here.

“As the search was launched in the area, militants hiding in a house opened fire on the security men, which was retaliated triggering an encounter. Two militants were killed in the encounter that ended in the wee hours today,” said a police officer in south Kashmir.

Two slain militants were identified as Shabir Mir, resident of Dadsara, and Idrees Shah of Norpora and both were associated with the Hizbul. Two AK rifles, six AK magazines, 80 rounds, two pouches, Hizb letter pad, matrix sheet and a diary was recovered from the encounter site.

The two slain militants were buried in their native villages and hundreds of locals attended their funeral.

A police spokesman in Srinagar said Shabir, alias Suhail, had joined militancy in 2012 and was formerly associated with Lashkar-e-Toiba and involved in various attacks on village heads last year.

The other slain militant, the police said, had joined militancy last year and was involved in the killing of a driver in Pulwama.

The Tral encounter was the second gunfight in south Kashmir this week. Two militants of the Hizbul were killed and four soldiers, including a Major-rank officer, injured in a 34-hour-long gunfight in Heff Shermal, Shopian, that erupted late on February 24. The pro-Pakistan group, Hizbul, had lost two militants in an encounter in the Tral area on January 27, in which Col Rai and a policeman were killed.

This year security forces have killed 16 militants in various anti-militancy operations in the Valley.