Srinagar, January 26 (KNO): Two Jaish-e-Muhammad militants were killed in a clean operation at Khonmoh area of Srinagar outskirts on Saturday even as six forces personnel sustained injuries in the gunfight. Police said that the two slain militants planning a big strike in city on the eve of Republic Day and that with their killing a “a major plot was foiled.”
A joint team of forces launched Cordon and Search Operation in Khanmoh area after getting a pre-dawn input about the presence of militants in a residential house. “As the forces zeroed in on the house, the hiding militants opened fire triggering off a gunfight. In the retaliatory action by the forces, two militants were killed,” he said.
Talking to KNO, IGP Kashmir S P Pani said that the slain militants belonged to Jaish given the incriminating material recovered from their possession. “Large quantity of ammunition was also recovered from their possession. As far as the reports whether they were planning a big strike, that is subject to investigations,” he said.
However, a police officer said that a major plot to disrupt theR-day function in Srinagar was foiled as the two slain militants were assigned the task of carrying out a big strike. “Alert forces got the input and eliminated the Jaish militants well before they could target any security installation,” he told KNO, wishing not to be named. He said that six forces personnel were also injured that include a Sub Inspector of Jammu and Kashmir Police, three CRPF men and two soldiers.
A police source said that the house were the militants were hiding suffered partial damage while the bodies of two militants retrieved were being identified. “The faces of two slain were damaged and that’s why it took so much of time to identify them,” he said. However, one of the slain militant was identified as Saqib Shafi Dar of Arihal, Pulwama. Thousands of people gathered at Arihal to participate in the funeral prayers of the slain Saqib.
Chanting pro-freedom slogans, women beating their chests, thousands of people attended the funeral of Saqib at his native village. The identity of the second militant was yet to ascertained. KNO had recently reported that in the month of January that 16 militants were killed in different encounters. With the killing of two militants at Khonmoh, the number of militants killed has reached 18. (KNO)