SRINAGAR: Two members of nomadic Gujjar community abducted by suspected militants from woods in Jammu & Kashmir’s southern Pulwama district last week have been found murdered, the police said here on Tuesday.
This is first such incident in J&K after the restive state was stripped of its special status and bifurcated into two Union Territories three weeks ago.
The police said that Abdul Qadeer Kohli of the state’s frontier Rajouri district and Manzoor Ahmed of Khonmoh area of Srinagar were abducted by unidentified gunmen from their ‘Dhok’ (shack) from forested area Lachi Top of Tral tehsil of Pulwama district during the intervening night of August 19 and 20.
On Monday night, the bullet-riddled corpse of Kohli was found by a search and rescue party, comprising members of Gujjar community and local police in the same area. Ahmed too was found murdered on Tuesday, the officials said.
A report, not denied or confirmed by the authorities, said that Ahmed was beheaded by the abductors.
Separately, two militants were arrested by the security forces during a reported encounter in north-western Baramulla district on Tuesday, the officials said. They added that “weapons and war-like stores” were recovered from the duo.
Giving the details of the operation, the officials said that the security forces including the Army, J&K police’s counterinsurgency Special Operations Group (SOG) and the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) laid siege to an area in Baramulla to conduct searches.
“During the operations two militants were arrested and war-like stores including weapons recovered from them”, they said.
The CRPF, in a tweet, said that the 53rd Battalion of CRPF, Army and Jammu & Kashmir Police conducted a joint operation and apprehended two terrorists in Baramulla district.
