SRINAGAR: Security forces on Friday shot dead a militant belonging to Hizb-ul-Mujahideen outfit during a brief gunfight in Jammu and Kashm-ir’s southern Pulwama district. The clash followed a sneak militant attack at an Army patrol in the area. No casualties were reported in the militant attack, the police sources said.
The police identified the slain militant as Ishfaq Yusuf Wani, a resident of Pulwama’s Qoil village. He was the 254th militant killed by security forces, so far this year, in their tough counterinsurgency campaign in the State.
As many as 97 security personnel and 91 civilians have also died in gun fights and other militancy-related incidents in the state, making 2018 the bloodiest year of past one decade for it. In 2008, over five hundred people had died in militancy-related violence. The toll stood at 384 in 2017.
Giving the details of Friday’s incident, the police said that the gunfight took place in Rinzi-pora village of Bander-pora area of Pulwama at dawn on Friday. “The fighting broke out after a joint party of Army’s 55 Rashtriya Rifles and J&K police’s Special Operations Group launched a cordon and search operation at Rinzipora to flush out militants hiding in the village,” said a police officer.
A police statement said that the search operation was launched after receiving a “credible input”.
