Fayaz Bukhari
—Excelsior/Younis Khaliq
SRINAGAR, Oct 26: A Junior Commissioned Officer (JCO) of Army and two militants were killed in an encounter in Pulwama district of South Kashmir this evening.
Army’s 44 Rashtriya Rifles (RR) and Special Operations Group (SOG) cordoned off Drabgam village of Pulwama in South Kashmir after they received specific information about the presence of militants in the village this evening.
Militants opened fire on the troops during cordon and search operation leading to a gun battle. The gun battle continued for around two hours.
The security forces killed both the militants while a JCO was injured in the encounter. The JCO, KVS Reddy, of 44 RR who was critically injured during the encounter later succumbed to injuries in the 92-Base Hospital Srinagar.
After the gun battle stopped, the security forces conducted searches of the village.
They found two bodies of teh militants. They were later identified as those of Afaq-Ullah-Bhat son of Abdul Rashid Bhat of Karimabad and Abdul Manan Dar son of Bashir Ahmad of Amarbugh, Shopian.
Both the militants were associated with Hizbul Mujahideen and appeared recently in pictures and videos militant outfit in which their commander Burhan Wani was also seen. They were part of the HM militant group headed by Burhan Wani of Tral in South Kashmir.
Reports said that one of the militants Manan Dar had joined militancy in May this year and was active since then.
Security forces have recovered two AK-47 rifles from the deceased militants.
This is the second set back to the Hizbul Mujahideen led by Burhan in South Kashmir. Last week two of his men were killed in a gun battle at Manzimpora in South Kashmir’s Shopian district.
Army’s 62 RR and Special Operations Group (SOG) of Jammu and Kashmir Police had launched a joint cordon-and-search operation in an apple orchards in Manzimpora area of Shopian on October 22 during which two HM militants Irshad Ahmad and Adil Khanday were killed.
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