Three militants killed in Valley gunfight

Srinagar: Three militants were killed in a firefight with security forces in a remote village of Jammu and Kashmir’s southern Anantnag district on Monday. The authorities said that the slain men belonged to Hizb-ul-Mujahideen, adding that it is a major setback for the Kashmir’s frontline indigenous militant outfit, which has gained ground as scores of local youth joined it following the killing of its popular commander Burhan Wani in July 2016.

A statement issued by the police on Monday said that acting on specific information about the presence of the militants in Awoora village in the jurisdiction of police station Pahalgam, the J&K police’s counterinsurgency Special Operations Group (SOG), the Army’s 3 Rashtriya Rifles and the 116 Battalion of the CRPF launched a cordon-and-search operation in the area on Sunday evening.

“During the search, the militants hiding in the area opened fire on security forces, which retaliated, killing all the three of them,” the statement said, identifying the slain men as the Hizb’s Aabid Farooq Sheikh, Maqsood Ahmed Sheikh alias Masoom and Aadil Mushtaq Reshi, all from Anantnag. The police also said that 3 AK rifles with 9 magazines and 80 rounds and 3 pouches were recovered from them.

It further said that Reshi was involved in a number of terror-related incidents, including the attack on sub divisional police officer of Bijbehara (Anantnag) and his personal security officer in December 2015, critically injuring both of them.

Reports said forces used automatic weapons, explosives and mortars against the militant trio holed up in a private house at Awoora.

Later during the day on Monday clashes broke out between the security forces and surging crowds who were protesting and mourning the killing of militants. Witnessed said that large number of men and women took to the streets in Bijbehara and Srigufwara areas of Anantnag, chanting pro-freedom slogans despite the areas receiving snowfall and soon clashes with the security forces who used bamboo sticks and fired teargas canisters to disperse them.

A photojournalist Bilal Bahadur was injured when hit by a teargas canister while covering the clashes outside a hospital in the highway town of Bijbehara. Shops and other businesses in several parts of Anantnag remained shut for the day and transport services were also disrupted, witnesses and police sources said.

In the State Assembly which is currently in session in winter capital Jammu, the local MLA Altaf Kaloo alleged that the security forces ransacked residential houses during the encounter in Awoora.