Three militants including Hizb-ul-Mujahideen top commander were killed in a gunfight in Anantnag district of south Kashmir on Monday.
“On a specific input regarding presence of militants in village Khulchohar area of Anantnag, a joint cordon and search operation was launched by JK Police, 19RR and CRPF in the area,” a police spokesperson said.
During the search operation, the hiding militants fired on the joint search party. The fire was retaliated leading to an encounter, he said.
“In the ensuing encounter, three militants were killed and their bodies were retrieved from the site of encounter,” he said, adding,” “The identification and affiliation of the killed terrorists is being ascertained. As per source one of the (slain) is Masood Ahmd Bhat resident of Doda (District Commander of HM outfit) and other two unidentified are from LeT outfit.”
The bodies were sent to Handwara for their last rites after conducting medico-legal formalities including collection of their DNA, he added.
IGP Kashmir Vijay Kumar, the spokesperson, appreciates the joint team for exercising utmost restraint, “thereby ensured a clean operation with no collateral damage.”
Earlier, Director General of Police Dilbag Singh confirmed that Masood “who had shifted his area of operation to Kashmir” was among the slain.
“Doda district in Jammu zone becomes totally militancy free once again as Masood was last surviving (militant) of the district,” he said.
The other two slain were identified by sources as Tariq Khan of Lal Chowk Anantnag and Nadeem from Kulgam. However, police had not confirmed it so far. The killing also takes the number of militants killed this year to 116 including six operational commanders of all militant outfits. Pertinently, in last year till 04 August 2019, 133 militants were killed in the Valley. Meanwhile, internet services have been snapped in the entire south Kashmir district.