3 militants killed in Shopian

Militants work under Pak dictation: DGP

Fayaz Bukhari
Srinagar, Oct 7: Three militants were killed in an overnight encounter that broke out between militants and security forces last evening in Sugan village of Shopian district.
Earlier last evening, a joint team of Army’s 44 RR, CRPF and SOG of Jammu and Kashmir Police launched an operation in the area following inputs about the presence of militants in the area.

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However, due to darkness, the operation was halted last night and was resumed this morning.
Soon after the joint search party, according to official, surrounded the suspected spot, militants hiding in the area fired upon indiscriminately which was retaliated, triggering an encounter.
Three militants were killed with the culmination of encounter in the area who were identified as Sajad Ahmad Malla of Shopian, Junaid Rashid of Tumlahal Pulwama and Mehraj-ud-Din of Arigam Pulwama.
The slain militants were associated with Hizb-ul-Mujahideen while another was part of Al-Badr. He said during exchange of fire, militants were given multiple chances to surrender which they refused and were killed in the retaliatory fire.
Soon after the encounter ended, several youth took to streets and pelted stones upon security personnel who fired several tear smoke canister to disperse them. Six youth sustained pellet injuries during clashes with security forces.
All injured have been moved to nearby medical facilities for medical attention. At least three pellet injured youth have been shifted to District Hospital Anantnag for specialized treatment.
Authorities also snapped 2G mobile internet connectivity in the area as a precautionary measure to maintain law and order.
In the meantime, Director General of Police, Dilbag Singh, that last evening, militants targeted a protected person Ghulam Qadir in Nuner area of Ganderbal.
“He is a protected person with 2 PSOs. After the attack, one of his PSOs Altaf Hussain retaliated and killed one militant, but he sustained bullet wounds. Unfortunately, the brave cop lost his life while saving the protected person. They were leaving from the house for another location when militants fired upon them”, he said.
“The fire was responded by our brave colleague Altaf Hussain in which he was injured and in the fire, he killed the militant who has been identified as Shabir Ahmad of Awantipora. He (Shabir) was sent to Ganderbal to carry out the attack”, the DGP said.
“We are proud that the PSO gave the befitting reply without caring for life. We express sympathies to his family. The way he responded to militant’s firing, we feel proud of him”, he said.
Singh said that Shabir was the right-hand of Reyaz Naikoo for a long and came into active militancy later. “He had recently joined active militancy. He was sent for target hitting by Hizb”, he added.
He said militants work under Pakistan dictation and 39 journalists who were threatened by militants are doing their job honestly. “For a militant, the entire area is open. He can move from any place. He works on the dictation of Pakistan. Recently 39 journalists were threatened by the TRF. They are the people who are doing their job honestly”, he said.
“They (militants) target people who are working for peace and development on the directions from Pakistan. Pakistan is the big collaborator of the killings. TRF is Pakistan’s and ISI’s mouthpiece”, he said.
He said that they (militants) do not want people to do their routine work. “We have given a befitting reply in the past and will continue to do so in future”, he added.
The DGP said that highway attacks can’t be ruled out till there is militancy. “Deployments made on the highway are calibrated and one cannot rule out attacks. Amid militancy, one cannot rule out such attacks. You see, whenever there is an attack on the highway, we kill the perpetrators in counterattacks. This is a continuous process”, he added.
Singh said that they will use technology against militancy. “There have been drone monitoring at few places. Use of technology will be done in future. Drones were earlier used as well. We are using other technical support to monitor militant movement on the highways. In many cases, we have killed the attackers on highways in counter-attacks”, he said.

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