Two militants killed in 10-hr gunbattle

Majid Jahangir

Tribune News Service

Balhama, March 16

Two militants of radical group Ansar Ghazwat-ul-Hind were killed in a 10-hour gunfight on Srinagar outskirts. A CRPF man was also injured during the operation.

The gunfight broke out on Thursday afternoon at Balhama, some 20 km from the city centre, when security forces cordoned off a cluster of houses after militants fired upon security guards of BJP leader Anwar Khan in a neighbouring area. Even as the policemen repulsed the attack, a security guard of the BJP leader was injured in the shootout.

Immediately after the attack, contingents of the Army, CRPF and police cordoned off Balhama village at around 2 pm on Thursday.

“There were three militants involved in the attack on security guards of the BJP leader and in the incident a militant was injured. The three while trying to escape from the area got holed up inside a double-storey house. Another militant who was unarmed escaped,” police sources said.

As the militants were challenged, they opened fire triggering a gunfight.

“During the initial firing, a CRPF man sustained bullet injuries. In the gunfight that followed two militants were killed,” Inspector General of CRPF Ravideep Singh Sahi told The Tribune. “Arms and ammunition were recovered from the encounter site.”

Two houses were gutted during the gunfight.

The two slain militants hailed from south Kashmir’s Pulwama district and were identified as Rasiq Nabi Bhat of Tral and Shabir Dar of Awantipora.

“Both were associated with the radical group Ansar Ghazwat-ul-Hind,” Deputy Inspector General of Police, Central Kashmir, Vidhi Kumar Birdi said. According to police records, the duo had joined militancy last year.

Earlier this week, three radical militants, including Mohammad Taufeeq, who hailed from Telangana, was killed along with his two Kashmiri associates in south Kashmir’s Anantnag district. Ansar Ghazwat-il-Hind and Islamic State had claimed that Taufeeq was member of their group.

At Balhama and its neighbouring areas, a shutdown was observed over the militants’ killing. People from the area thronged the encounter site where two houses were reduced to rubble.

“It is first gunfight in the village since the eruption of violence,” said Ghulam Mohammad, a resident of the village at the encounter site. “The militants were not hiding in the houses, but they entered when they were being chased,” he said.

2 others arrested in south Kashmir 

Srinagar: Security forces on Friday apprehended two suspected militants in separate incidents in south Kashmir, recovering arms and ammunition from their possession. In the first incident, Shahnawaz Ahmad Mir, a resident of Budgam in Kulgam, was apprehended during a random checking at a check-point set up at Takia Adijan in the district, a police spokesman said. A Chinese pistol, one magazine, five live rounds and Rs 10,000 were recovered from Mir’s possession, the spokesman said. In another incident, Ajaz Ahmad Bhat, a resident of Dangerpora, Padgampora, was arrested with a hand grenade on the national highway near Padgampora in south Kashmir’s Pulwama district, the spokesman said. PTI