Two Jaish militants, civilian killed in Shopian encounter

Suhail A Shah

Anantnag, July 10

Two militants of the Jaish-e-Muhammad (JeM) , including a Pakistan national, were killed and two soldiers were injured in a seven-hour gunfight in south Kashmir’s Shopian district on Tuesday.

The gunfight triggered fierce clashes between protesters and forces that left a teenaged boy dead and several injured. The gunfight and clashes have put Kashmir on an edge, with separatists calling for a shutdown on Wednesday.

The gunfight erupted when joint forces of the police, Army and the CRPF started a cordon and search operation in Kundalan village of Shopian, over 60 km from Srinagar, after a tip-off about the presence of a group of militants in the area.

“As a cluster of houses were cordoned off, the militants were asked to surrender. However, around 4.15 am, the militants holed up in a house opened indiscriminate fire, wounding two Army men, including a JCO. The fire was retaliated and triggered a fierce gunfight in which two militants were killed,” a police officer said. The injured soldiers were evacuated to hospital for treatment.

The police identified the slain militants as Sameer Ahmad Sheikh of Rawalpora, Shopian, and Babar, a Jaish commander of Pakistani origin. “They were involved in many attacks on the security establishments and civilian atrocities,” a police spokesman said. Sameer had joined the JeM after he went missing in April. Local sources said two houses were razed to the ground as forces used heavy explosives during the gunfight.

As the encounter was underway, intense stone-throwing erupted around the site as dozens of people tried to help the militants escape. The clashes left a teenaged boy, Tamsheed Khan of Vehil, Shopian, dead, eyewitnesses said. Locals said Tamsheed was studying in Class IX.

Chief Medical Officer (CMO), Shopian, Abdul Rasheed, said various hospitals in Shopian district received a total of 123 injured civilians. Six of them had bullet injuries and others were injured by pellets.

A senior police officer in south Kashmir, however, said around 20 people were injured in the clashes. “Two of them had received bullet injuries and rest had pellet injuries,” the officer said. The police maintained that Tamsheed was killed in the crossfire. “Some civilians were injured in the crossfire and evacuated to hospital. One of them later succumbed to his injuries,” a police spokesperson said.

Meanwhile, a Class XI student, Ubaid Lone, who was wounded in alleged BSF firing at Chaklaa village in north Kashmir on June 25 succumbed to his injuries in a Srinagar hospital in the wee hours on Tuesday. Lone was injured during clashes at the Chaklaa crossing along the Handwara-Baramulla road.

Militant’s father dies of cardiac arrest  

The father of a recently recruited militant died of cardiac arrest early Tuesday morning in Shopian district, following rumours that his militant son was trapped at the site of the encounter in Kundalan village of the district. The deceased has been identified as Ishaq Ahmad Naikoo, father of militant Zeenat Naikoo, a resident of Meemander village in Shopian district. It, however, turned out that Zeenat was not part of the gunfight. A source close to the family said announcements were made on local masjid loudspeakers that Zeenat was also trapped at Kundalan. OC