Militants who snatched rifle from cop shot dead

Srinagar: Two Kashmiri militants were shot dead by security forces in a brief gunbattle in Khumriyal area of Kupwara district on Thursday. The police said that the duo was involved in snatching of rifle from a policeman in the area a day ago.

The killing of militants triggered protests by surging crowds in parts of Kupwara district. A report said that, at least, two persons were injured when security forces opened fire to quell protesters.

The officials said that the security forces, including the Army and J&K police’s counter-insurgency special operations group, had established a naka (makeshift checkpoint). “While the checking at the naka point was on, terrorists fired on the naka party which was retaliated by the alert security forces,” they said. They added that in a brief encounter, two militants were killed. The slain were identified as Bilal Ahmad Shah and Zahoor Ahmad Mir, both local residents associated with Hizb-ul-Mujahideen and Tehrik-ul-Mujahideen, respectively.

“Both the terrorists were involved in several attacks on the security establishments and civilian atrocities in the area,” a statement issued by the police here said. It added that one AK 47 and one INSAS rifle were found on the slain militants. The police further said that the INSAS rifle had been  snatched by militants from J&K police Constable Mohammad Ishaq in Kandhar area of Kupwara on Wednesday.

The police said that no collateral damage occurred during the encounter. “After Wednesday incident, the security forces  adopted a proactive approach setting up check barriers at various places across the district and finally got the terrorists who had snatched the service weapon from the policeman,” said an official. End it .

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