3 militants killed in Shopian gunfight

Majid Jahangir

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, June 16

Security forces on Tuesday killed three militants, including kin of a former legislator, in south Kashmir.

The gunfight erupted in an orchard at Turkawangam village in Shopian, 50 km from Srinagar, after joint teams of the forces, launched an operation following an input by the J&K Police about the presence of militants in the area.

“A cordon was laid at around 1 am in the village and by 7 in the morning we had eliminated three terrorists in that area,” General Officer Commanding (GOC), Victor Force, Major-Gen A Sengupta said during a briefing in Srinagar.

Inspector General of Police Vijay Kumar, termed it an excellent and swift action-based operation jointly carried out by the forces.

“No collateral damage occurred during the encounter,” Vijay Kumar said.

While the police did not disclose the identity of the three slain militants, sources said one of the slain militants was a top commander of the Hizbul Mujahideen in Shopian, Zubair Wani, and the other two his associates — one of them Kamran Zahoor — the nephew of a former PDP MLC, Zaffar Manhas, who is now a member of the newly launched Apni Party.