6 militants trapped including 2 in Masjid
Excelsior Correspondent
Srinagar, June 18: Two militants were killed in two separate ongoing encounters in South Kashmir’s Pulwama and Shopian districts today while at least six others are trapped including two in a Masjid.
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An encounter broke out between security forces and militants at Meej area of Pampore in South Kashmir’s Pulwama district early today after security forces including police, 50 RR of Army and 140 Battalion of CRPF cordoned off the area on the basis of a tip-off about presence of militants.
One of the militants was killed in an initial exchange of fire when he tried to take shelter in a cow shed. Two others managed to flee from the spot who later took refuge in a Masjid at Meej village of Pampore.
Inspector General of Police Kashmir, Vijay Kumar, told Excelsior that repeated announcements were made on loudspeakers by the police and Army asking militants to come out and surrender. “Imam of the Masjid confirmed presence of one militant inside. We didn’t enter into the Masjid. We have not opened any fire keeping in view the sanctity of the religious place. However, we lobbed few tear gas shells inside Masjid but militants didn’t come out”, he added.
In the meantime, another operation was launched by the security forces including police, 44 RR of Army and 178 Battalion of CRPF at Bandpawa area of Chitragam in Shopian district after inputs about presence of at least 4-5 militants hiding in the area.
“As the joint teams of forces zeroed in on the suspected spot, the hiding militants fired upon them which was retaliated, triggering an encounter,” Kumar said.
He said that one unidentified militant has been killed and the operation is underway and at least 3-4 militants are trapped in the area.
Mobile phones and internet services have been snapped in the districts as a precautionary measure. However, BSNL cell phones are functional.
This year so far, 95 militants including top commanders of Hizbul Mujahideen, Jaish-e-Mohammad and Lashkar-e-Toiba were killed that include Reyaz Naikoo, the chief operational commander of Hizbul, Bashir Koka of Lashkar and Abdur Rehman alias Fouji Bhai of Pakistan, who was an IED expert of Jaish. At least 62 militants were killed alone since the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic in Kashmir on March 20.
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