Fayaz Bukhari
SRINAGAR, Feb 6: A Special Police Officer (SPO) turned militant was killed in a gun battle at Godipora area of South Kashmir’s Pulwama district this afternoon.
The Special Operations Group (SOG) of Jammu and Kashmir Police, Army’s 55 Rashtriya Rifles (RR) and Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) 182 and 183 Battalions cordoned off Veerbagh village of Godipora this afternoon after receiving input about presence of three militants of the Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) in the area.
As the joint team of security forces conducted searches in the area, militants fired upon the search parties at around 3 pm, triggering a gunfight.
The troops gunned down a militant Raqib Bashir of village Zadoora in Pulwama as he was trying to flee out of the cordon near local Masjid. However, the searches for the other militants continued but they had reportedly fled as hundreds of local residents attempted to give safe passage to the trapped militant by resorting to heavy stone pelting on security forces.
Soon after the killing of the militant, massive protests broke out at Zadoora, Pinglina and Veerbagh during which locals clashed with police and CRPF. After completing legal formalities, police handed over the body of the slain militant to his family at Zadoora.
Raqib was an SPO and had deserted the police last year to join Lashkar-e-Toiba. He was believed to be responsible for attack on CRPF in Arwani village of Bijbehara in district Anantnag last week in which two CRPF men were injured.
Meanwhile, Deputy Commissioner Pulwama, Neeraj Kumar, today issued an order declaring the imposition of Section 144 under which there is restriction on the movement of civilians within the 2.5 kilometers radius of encounter site in Pulwama.
“…It has been made to appear to me that during encounters the people of surrounding areas do receive bullet injuries as a result of their free movement in and around the encounter places… In order to save the precious lives of the civilians it is expedient to impose restrictions on their movement in and around the encounter places”, the DC’s order reads.
Neeraj Kumar has, however, said that the order shall not be applicable on the ambulances, medicos and paramedical staff. He added that the order shall remain force for two months.
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