Hizb commander killed in encounter with forces

A top Hizb-ul-Mujahideen commander was killed in a firefight with security forces in Jammu and Kashmir’s frontier district of Kupwara on Tuesday. The authorities termed it a major breakthrough against Kashmir’s frontline indigenous militant outfit, which they said was achieved as a result of the “continued relentless operation against terrorists.”

However, the killing of Sameer Ahmed Wani alias Jan Sahib, a divisional commander of Hizb, sparked off widespread protests and violence in Dooru, his home village and some other areas of Sopore in neighbouring Baramulla district.

Irate crowds took to the streets chanting pro-freedom slogans and soon clashed with police who fired warning rifle shots and dozens of teargas canisters into the stone-throwing crowds at various places in Sopore.

At Hardu Shiva on the outskirts of Sopore town, a mob intercepted a police vehicle on its way to Kupwara, forced the men on board to abandon it and then torched it, witnesses said.

Police and Army officials said a gun battle broke out between militants and security forces as the latter moved in Nagri village of north-western Kupwara district close to the Line of Control (LoC) shortly before dawn on Tuesday.