Four militants killed in J&K; were behind migrant killings: cops

Police said that while the militants killed in Shopian were responsible for the October 16 killing of a carpenter from Saharanpur, Uttar Pradesh, the two militants killed in Kulgam were behind the October 17 killing of two labourers from Bihar.

On Tuesday afternoon, a joint team of the J-K Police, army and paramilitary forces cordoned off Draggad village in Shopian after specific inputs about the presence of militants. As the forces zeroed in on the target, militants opened fire, leading to a gunfight.

“Two terrorists were killed and their bodies were retrieved from the site of the encounter,” police said in an official release. The slain militants have been identified as Adil Hussain Wani, a Lashkar-e-Toiba commander from Shopian, and Shakir Ahmad Wani, a resident of Litter Pulwama, where the migrant worker was killed.

On October 16, suspected militants had shot dead Sageer Ansari, a carpenter hailing from Saharanpur in Uttar Pradesh.

“Adil Ahmad had been active since July 2020 and was involved in several terror cases, including the recent killing of the carpenter,” police said.

In a separate encounter in Kulgam on Wednesday evening, two militants were killed after a brief shootout. Police said that after specific inputs about militant movement, a joint team of the police, army and paramilitary forces established a checkpoint on the Devsar-Sopat road.

“We signalled one of the vehicles to stop. However, its occupants resorted to indiscriminate firing,” police said, adding two terrorists were killed in retaliatory firing.

Police have identified the militants as Gulzar Ahmad Reshi, district commander of the Lashkar-e-Toiba, and Imran Wani. Police said the militants were behind the killing of Raja Reshi and Joginder Reshi, two labourers from Bihar, at Wanpoh Kulgam on October 17.

Following a string of civilian killings in the Valley, joint teams of security forces have stepped up operations against militants. The Valley has reported at least 10 gunfights over the past two weeks, with police saying 15 militants, “most of them were involved in recent civilian killings”, have been eliminated.