Militant killed, another surrenders
Fayaz Bukhari
Srinagar, June 25: Security forces foiled the first infiltration bid of the year along the Line of Control (LoC) in Tangdhar sector of North Kashmir’s Kupwara district today while a militant was killed and another surrendered during an encounter in Shopian.
A police officer said that police along with Army’s 7RR and 87 battalion of BSF foiled an infiltration bid in Tangdhar sector.
He said that one AK47, one pistol, two grenades and other ammunition as well as six packets of heroin worth Rs 30 crores left by the infiltrators were recovered.
And a Lashkar-e-Toiba militant was killed while another one surrendered in an encounter in Hanjipora, Kachdoora village of South Kashmir’s Shopian district today.
Inspector General of Police (IGP) Kashmir, Vijay Kumar told Excelsior that police received information about the presence of militants in a house in village Hanjipora.
“When the security forces zeroed in on the house, the hiding militants opened fire. One militant was killed today and another one surrendered”, he said.
The IGP said that the slain militant was identified as Murtaza Ahmed Dar while the one who surrendered was identified as Sahil Ahmed. He said that today’s gunfight is the second in Shopian district in the past three days.
“This is after a long time that one militant surrendered during an encounter. I once again appeal to local youth to shun violence and return to their homes as we will welcome them with open arms,” he said.
To query how militants manage to kill policemen who was on leave, he said policemen on vacations become soft targets for militants and steps are being taken to avoid such incidents.
He was referring to the killing of CID Inspector at Kanipora, Nowgam recently. Asked whether the youth killed at Habba Kdal was police informer, he said the slain was a civilian and not the informer of any security agency or police.
Meanwhile, a police spokesman said that on a specific input generated by Shopian police regarding presence of militants in Hanjipora area of Shopian, a joint cordon and search operation was launched by Police, 34RR and CRPF in the area.
“During the search operation as the presence of militants got ascertained they were given repeated opportunities to surrender. However, they denied the surrender appeal and fired indiscriminately upon the joint search party, which was retaliated leading to an encounter,” the statement said.
“In the ensuing encounter, one militant was killed and his body was retrieved from the site of encounter. Meanwhile, the family members of the other trapped militant were called to the encounter site to again persuade the other one to surrender. It was due to the great efforts and utmost Patience of Police, security forces and repeated surrender appeals with the help of his family members, the trapped militant identified as Sahil Ramzan Dar son of Mohammad Ramzan Dar resident of Beminipora linked with LeT ultimately surrendered and laid down his arms before the joint security forces. As per police records, Sahil Ahmad was active since March 2021”, police said.
Police said that the slain militant has been identified as Murtaza resident of Samboora, Awantipora linked with LeT. “As per police records Murtaza was also involved in several crime cases including attacks on security forces and civilian atrocities,” it read, adding that “Incriminating materials, arms & ammunition including one AK-56 rifle, one pistol, 3 AK-magazines and 2 grenades were recovered from the encounter site/possession of surrendered. All the recovered materials have been taken into case records for further investigation”, police added.
Follow our WhatsApp channel
