3 Hizbul Mujahideen militants killed in Jammu and Kashmir
SRINAGAR: Three militants were killed in an encounter with security forces in a remote village of Jammu and Kashmir’s southern Anantnag district on Monday.
The authorities said that slain men belonged to Hizb-ul-Mujahideen, adding that it was a major setback to Kashmir’s frontline indigenous militant outfit which had gained ground as scores of local youth joined the outfit following the killing of its popular commander Burhan Wani last year.
Police said that acting on specific information about the presence of militants in Awoora village in the jurisdiction of police station Pahalgam, the J&K police’s counterinsurgency Special Opera-tions Group along with the Army’s 3 Rashtriya Rifles and the 116 Battalion of the CRPF launched a cordon-and-search operation in the area on Sunday evening.
“During the search operation, the militants hiding in the area opened fire on the security forces which retaliated, killing all the three of them,” the statement said.
The slain have been identified as the Hizb’s Aabid Farooq Sheikh, Maqsood Ahmed Sheikh alias Masoom and Aadil Mushtaq Reshi, all local Kashmiris from Anant-nag. The police also said that 3 AK rifles with 9 magazines and 80 rounds and 3 pouches were found on the slain militants.
It further said that Reshi was involved in number of terror-related incidents including the attack on Sub Divisional Police Officer of Bijbehara (Anantnag) and his personal security officer in December 2015, critically injuring both of them.
