12-year-old hostage killed by militants: J-K police

The minor who died was identified as Atif Mir, a 12-year-old boy who studied in class VI at Army Goodwill School, the police and residents said.

A minor held hostage by two Pakistani Lashkar-e-Taiba militants was killed by his captors in the Jammu and Kashmir town of Hajin, where security forces had launched an operation, the police said. The militants were killed in the operation.

Mother of the minor boy found dead at the encounter site at Hajin in north Kashmir’s Bandipora on March 22. (Waseem Andrabi/HT Photo)

The army,Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and the police had launched the joint cordon-and-search operation in the Mimoh neighbourhood of the town on Thursday. The minor who died was identified as Atif Mir, a 12-year-old boy who studied in class VI at Army Goodwill School, the police and residents said.

The cordon covered the six houses of the Mir clan located close to one another on the main link road. At the time, two militants and six members were inside the three-storey house of Mohammad Shafi Mir, including his brother, son and other family members. “I was at my shop when the search operation began in our locality. My minor son and my brother were inside the house and militants didn’t allow them to leave, while others family members managed to escape from the house. In the afternoon yesterday, my brother also managed to escape,’’ said Shafi Mir, who lost his only son.

“The operation began in the morning and the forces could have ended it within a few hours, but the police and army officials present on the encounter site made every attempt to rescue my son. My son wasn’t allowed to leave the house despite several pleas... ’’

To save the life of the boy, the police and army officers appealed to the militants through local village elders, asking the captors to release the boy. The appeals were made every few hours. “The police and army tried to save the boy, but I don’t know why the militants held him hostage. For this family it is going to be a lifelong pain,’’ Nazir Ahmad, an uncle of the boy, said. “This type of incident has never taken place here.’’

The mother, who was being consoled by relatives and neighbours, said: “My brother-in-law, who was also held hostage along with my son, told me that he had pleaded with the militants to release his nephew but they refused. And when the militants got injured, my brother-in-law escaped from the house...’’

The operation ended on Friday morning and police the took bodies of the two militants and the minor boy with them. The body of the minor was handed over to family members in the afternoon.

The grave of the boy was being dug by his relatives some 500 to 600 metres away from his school. “He (Aatif) was such a wonderful boy who didn’t deserve to die this way. The security forces could have aborted the operation to save the boy. They would have killed the militants anytime after,” said one of his neighbours.

Senior superintendent of police, Bandipora, Rahul Malik said the security forces had done everything possible to get the militants to release the boy and his uncle. The uncle eventually managed to escape.

A magistrate, too, had appealed that the boy be allowed to go “but finally fire from that side intensified and we also retaliated and in process two militants, Ali and Hubaib, were eliminated,’’ Malik said.

SSP Malik said the police received information from the rescued civilians that the minor boy was held hostage by Ali. “He didn’t allow the boy to go out and he killed the boy before we stormed the building.”