Srinagar, February 01 (KNO) : At least two militants affiliated with Jaish-e-Muhammad were killed in a gunfight that broke out in Drabgam village of South Kashmir Pulwama district in the intervening night of Thursday-Friday. One among the slain had joined the militant ranks just three days before. Police said that a joint search operation was launched in the village after specific input was received about the presence of militants.
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 said, adding that two militants were killed and the bodies were retrieved from the site of encounter.
The slain militants were identified as Shahid Mushtaq Baba, son of Mushtaq Ahmed Baba of Drabgam Pulwama and Inayat Abdullah Zigar, son of Mohammad Abdullah Zigar of Arihal Pulwama.
“Both the militants were affiliated with JeM and Baba was wanted by the law for his complicity in crimes,” police said, adding that as per police records, Shahid Baba was active in Shopian and Pulwama areas and had a long history of crime records for which several cases were registered against him.
“He was involved in conspiring and executing several attacks on security establishments in the area including grenade attacks,” police said, adding that another militant, Inayat was an active supporter of activities of JeM for a long time though he joined the outfit as active cadre very recently.
Police said that due to the efforts of security forces, it was a clean operation and no collateral damage took place during the encounter. “Arms and ammunition were recovered from the site of encounter. All these materials have been taken in case records for further investigation and probe their complicity in other cases,” police said.
Meanwhile, police urged people 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 said. Besides, thousands of people attended the funeral prayers of the two slain militants.
Inayat’s cousin Saquib Ahmad was killed on 26 January in Khonmoh encounter recently. According to family sources, as told to KNO, of Inayat went missing four days back and they were still searching for him and were yet to come to terms of his missing that he returned home dead.
Multiple funeral prayers were offered for Inayat and his associate Shahid at their native villages. A massive throng was witnessed at Drubgam and Arihal villages as thousands braved snow to have a last glimpse of the slain. Meanwhile, a complete shutdown was observed in Pulwama over the killing of the duo while authorities have snapped internet services in the area.(KNO)