3 Hizb militants gunned down : The Tribune India

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3 Hizb militants gunned down

SRINAGAR: Three local militants of Hizbul Mujahideen, spotted in a recent video that surfaced on social media, were killed in an 11-hour-long gunfight in a south Kashmir village in Anantnag district.



Majid Jahangir

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, January 16

Three local militants of Hizbul Mujahideen, spotted in a recent video that surfaced on social media, were killed in an 11-hour-long gunfight in a south Kashmir village in Anantnag district.

The three militants were seen in the video a few days back in which at least six local armed militants were seen trekking on the snow-covered mountains and even seen throwing snow on one another. Sources said the militant group was tracked after the analysis of the video that was recorded in the Kokernag forest area.

The gunfight at Awoora village, Pahalgam, nearly 80 km from Srinagar, broke out on Sunday evening when joint teams of police, Army’s 3 Rashtriya Rifles Battalion and Central Reserve Police Force cordoned off the area after an input about the militants’ presence.

“As soon the village was being cordoned off, militants opened fire triggering a gunfight. Three local militants who were hiding in a house close to the forest were killed in the gunfight,” Anantnag Senior Superintendent of Police Zubair Ahmad Khan told The Tribune. “Three AK-47 rifles were recovered from the spot,” he said.

The three slain militants were identified as Adil Rishi, Abid Sheikh and Masood Ahmed Shah — all residents of Bijbehara, Anantnag. The house where the militants were killed was also damaged in the gunfight.

The three militants were active for the last few years. Two among them, the police said, were involved in an attack in Bijbehara in December, 2015, in which a Sub-Divisional Police Officer and a constable were injured.

The killing of militants sparked protests and clashes in Bijbehara and some other parts of Anantnag. Many youths, including a photojournalist, were injured in the clashes. Like in the past, people had on Sunday evening tried their bid to help militants escape immediately after the gunfight broke. But the security forces ensured a tight cordon. After the bodies were handed over to families, a large number of people attended the funeral prayers of three local militants, despite heavy snowfall. The bodies of the militants were carried in huge processions amid chant of anti-India and pro-militant slogans.

The security forces claimed the killing of the three militants was a setback to Hizbul Mujahideen in south Kashmir that was trying to recruit more local youth for militancy.

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