4 J&K militants gunned down in 2 encounters

SRINAGAR: Four militants were killed in two separate gun battles with security forces in Kashmir Valley on Thursday.

Officials here said that three militants were gunned down by the security forces during a fierce firefight in Yawran village of southern Shopian district. They have been identified as Sajad Khanday, Aqib Ahmed Dar and Basharat Ahmed Mir, all residents of neighbouring Pulwama district.

A police spokesman here said that the slain men were part of a combined group of proscribed militant outfits Hizbul Mujahideen and LeT. “They were wanted for their complicity in a series of terror crimes,” the spokesman claimed.

He said that the fighting broke out during a cordon-and-search operation launched by the forces after learning about the presence of militants in the village. “Incriminating materials, including 3 AK ri-fles, were recovered fr-om the encounter site,” the spokesman said.

The second gunfight took place during a similar operation in Yaroo village of Langaet area of frontier Kupwara district, the police said. “As the searches were going on in the village, the search party was fired upon by the hiding militants. The fire was retaliated leading to a gunfight,” they said, adding that one militant was killed in the clash.

The police identified the militant killed in the clash with security forces as Danish Ahmed Dar of JeM.

A report from Shopian said that irate crowds, mainly youth, clashed with the security forces during and after the gunfight in Shopian’s Yawran village and its neighbourhood. Several people were injured as the mobs hurled stone at the security forces, who responded by bursting teargas canisters and firing pellet shotguns to quell them, the report said.