Two militants, including scholar, killed in Kashmir

Srinagar: One more PhD scholar who had joined the Hizb-ul-Mujahideen outfit sometime ago was killed along with another militant in a fire fight with security forces in Nowgam area of Srinagar on Wednesday.

He has been identified as Sabzar Ahmed Sofi and his accomplice as Asif Ahmed Shirgorji. The house in which the duo had been holed up at Wanbal in Nowgam area suffered extensive damage in mortar fire and use of other arsenal by the security forces in their final assault, the witnesses and police sources said.

The authorities immediately suspended class work at the main campus of the University of Kashmir in Srinagar and closed schools and colleges in and around the summer capital and also snapped internet services except those available on fixed broadband lines.

Massive protests erupted in the native villages of the slain militants and later during the day thousands of people attended the funeral of Sofi at Naina Sangam in southern district of Anantnag. A group of Hizb militants appeared at the scene and offered their slain colleague a gun salute, the witnesses said. An alliance of key separatist leaders ‘Joint Resistance Leadership’ has called for a Valley-wide shutdown on Thursday to mourn the killing of Sofi.

A police spokesman said that the security forces launched a cordon and search operation at Wanbal early Wednesday “based on credible input about the presence of the terrorists”. During search operation, he said, the militants fired upon the search party, which was retaliated leading to an encounter. The police said that Sofi had after abandoning his studies joined militant ranks in 2016 soon after the killing of the Hizb’s popular commander Burhan Wani. The police claimed that he was involved in several attacks on security establishments and many other terror incidents and civilian atrocities in district Anantnag.

He is second PhD scholar turned militant killed in the security forces actions during this month. On October 11, Manan Bashir Wani, a PhD scholar at Aligarh Muslim University who also had joined the Hizb earlier this year was along with another militant killed in a similar clash with the security forces in Handwara area of north-western Kupwapa.

Shirgojiri alias Khubaib, a resident of Khiram village of Anantnag, had joined the Hizb in January this and was “actively involved in attacks on security establishments and civilian atrocities in the area”, the police said.

The police said that incriminating materials including arms and ammunition were recovered from the site of encounter. After the killing of militant due at Wanbal clashes broke out between protestors and security forces in the area.