Srinagar, January 03 (KNO) : The gunfight that broke out today morning in forest area of Tral has ended with the killings of three militants, affiliated with Jaish-e-Muhammad and Hizbul Mujahideen.
Three Army men were also injured during the gunfight. Officials said, adding the injured are undergoing treatment. Following the specific tip-off about the presence of militants in higher reaches of Tral, police said that a joint search operation was launched by JK police and government forces in the area.
“As the searches were going on, the search party was fired upon by the militants. The fire was retaliated, thus leading to a gunfight,” police as per KNO said, adding that in the ensuing encounter, three militants were killed whose bodies were recovered from the gunfight site.
Police said that the slain militants have been identified as Zubair Ahmad Bhat @Abu Huraira, son of Bashir Ahmad Bhat of Chursoo Awantipora, Shakoor Ahmad Parray @Jaffar, son of Ghulam Nabi Parray of Laribal Tral and Tawseef Ahmad Thoker @Abu Talha, son of Ghulam Mohi-ud-deen Thoker of Chursoo Bunpora Awantipora.
Police said that “all the three killed militants were wanted by law for their complicity in a series of crimes including attacks on security establishments and civilian atrocities.”
“It was a combined group of JeM and HM and as per police records Zubair was affiliated with JeM while Shakoor and Tawseef were affiliated with HM,” he said, adding that police has registered a case and initiated investigation in the matter.
“Incriminating materials including arms and ammunition were recovered from the site of encounter,” police said, adding that all these materials have been taken in case records for further investigation and probe their complicity in other cases.
Meanwhile, police said that citizens are requested not to venture inside the encounter zone since such an area can prove dangerous due to stray explosive materials. “People are requested to cooperate with police till the area is completely sanitized and cleared of all the explosive materials if any,” police added.
Meanwhile, dozens of youth have also received injuries sustained injuries in Tral during the clashes that erupted post gunfight in Tral in which forces retaliated with tear smoke shells to disperse the youth.(KNO)