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2 militants killed in Kulgam were locals belonging to JeM: Army
The police have identified the militants as Mohammad Shafi Ganie of Batpora and Mohammad Asif Wani alias Yawar of Takia Gopalpora
The two Jaish-e-Muhammad militants killed in south Kashmir’s Kulgam on Tuesday in an encounter with security forces were locals and were repeatedly asked to surrender, army officials said on Wednesday.
The officials said that the army established a quick initial cordon around the suspected cluster of houses in the Ahwatoo village on receipt of specific human information from police regarding the presence of militants, following which a joint cordon by the army, police and CRPF was launched.
“On confirmation of the presence of terrorists in the suspected house, priority was given for the evacuation of civilians from the cordon to a safe location. Thereafter, Army unit attempted to induce surrender of the hiding terrorists by making repeated surrender calls, however to no avail,” said PRO Defence, Srinagar, Emron Musavi.
The police have identified the militants as Mohammad Shafi Ganie of Batpora and Mohammad Asif Wani alias Yawar of Takia Gopalpora.
Musavi said that during the search of the target house, militants resorted to indiscriminate firing in an attempt to break the cordon. “Our troops retaliated with effective fire, thereby foiling their escape attempt and neutralising one of the terrorists,” he said.
In the ensuing firefight, one soldier sustained a splinter injury on foot. The soldier was evacuated to 439 Field Hospital, Awantipura.
The army said that due to the indiscriminate fire by the remaining militant, a gas godown in the vicinity of the target house caught fire, leading to multiple explosions.
“Considering the safety of civilian life, efforts by Army and JKP were pressed in towards dousing the fire by use of water bowsers and foam sprinklers, simultaneously maintaining an impregnable cordon. LPG cylinder fire was doused by the Fire Fighting team security forces, thus preventing loss to the property of neighbouring houses,” Musavi said.
Later contact was re-established, and a second militant was also killed owing to “accurate fire of the troops”.
“ On search of the encounter site, two AK series rifles, grenades and other warlike stores were recovered,” he said.
A police spokesman said that both the killed men were categorized as militants and were linked with the proscribed outfit JeM. “Both the killed terrorists were involved in several terror crime cases including attacks on police, security forces and civilian atrocities,” the police spokesman said.
On Monday, police along with Army (9RR) and CRPF (18Bn) launched a joint cordon and search operation in the village Batpora area of Kulgam, which had led to the killing of a foreign militant.
“During the search operation, as the joint search party approached the suspected spot, the hiding terrorist targeted the civilians as well as the joint team in a bid to escape. Although the civilians were evacuated to a safer place, however, due to heavy firing by a terrorist, an Army soldier and two civilians received gunshot injuries and were immediately evacuated to hospital for treatment,” the police spokesman said.
In the ensuing encounter, a foreign Pakistani militant identified as Abu Hurarah, linked with proscribed terror outfit JeM was killed.
ADGP Kashmir, Vijay Kumar, said that besides involvement in several terror crimes, Hurarah was also involved in the recruitment of local youths in terror ranks.
“Incriminating materials, arms & ammunitions including 01 AK-56, 02 AK-47, 01 Pistol, 01 Grenade, 04 Magazines and 01 Pistol Magazine were recovered from both the sites of encounters,” the spokesman said.
