Fayaz Bukhari
Srinagar, July 1: The District Commander of Hizbul Mujahideen, his two associates and a police man were killed and three cops injured in a fierce gunbattle at Mandoora Tral in South Kashmir district of Pulwama today.
Deputy Inspector General of Police, South Kashmir range, Vijay Kumar told Excelsior that Jammu and Kashmir Police, Special Operations Group of JKP and 185 battalion of Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) launched an operation on a tip off about the presence of three militants in the house of Gulzar Ahmad Bhat in Mandoora Tral last night.
The DIG said that early today when the cordon was laid around the house of Bhat, militants present inside opened fire on the police killing Mushtaq Ahmad of SOG Tral and injuring Manzoor Ahmad and two CRPF personnel.
Kumar said that after two hours, the Army’s 42 Rashtriya Rifles was called in to assist the police in the operation. He said that the gun fight continued through out the day.
“We maintained utmost restrain to avoid collateral damage. But later we used IED and fired mortars to target the militants who were firing on the troops from inside the house”, the DIG said.
Kumar said that in the evening when the gun fight stopped the debris was being cleared, a militant fired on troops. However, there was no causality. He said that the security forces again used IED and killed the militant, who fired from the debris of the house.
The DIG identified the three dead militants as Shabir Ahmad Bhat alias Adil of Hayna, Shahnawaz Mir alias Tahir Khan of Dadsar and Aijaz Laway alias Majid of Lurgam, Tral.
Kumar said that Shabir Hayna was the district commander of HM and his killing is a major success for the security forces in South Kashmir. “He was carrying a cash reward of Rs 10 lakh”, he added.
“Shabir was active in Tral area since 2007 and was involved in number of murder cases. He was involved in the killing of Manzoor Ahmad Keeli alias Man Keeli in 2009, Ghulam Mohideen Bhat a political worker in Pinglish Tral in 2011. He was also involved in the IED blast at Nawdal road attempting to kill police officers. He was also involved in the firing on a civilian Abdul Rashid Gojjar at Machama. His was also behind the arson of AR cable network in 2011”, the DIG said.
Kumar said: “The other two militants Shahnawaz and Aijaz had joined HM in 2011. Shahnawaz was one of the militants who had escaped from an encounter as Busoo, Tral on 24 May, 2013.”
The DIG said that two militants who killed 4 Army personnel in Busoo Tral in May this year have been killed now and only Adil is still at large.
The DIG Vijay Kumar was overseeing the operation from the spot and later DIG CRPF and Sector Commander of 1 RR also joined him.
Sources said that Shabir Hyna was suffering from renal failure and it is believed that of late he was not making much movment. “He was hiding in the house of Gulzar Ahmad Bhat working in Military Engineering Services (MES) in Badami Bagh Cantonment”, sources said.
The two other militants had come to see him when the security forces laid siege to the village. The militants shifted to adjacent house of Nazir Ahmad Bhat when Gulzar Bhat’s house was raised to rubble.
Hundreds of people had gathered at Mandoora to hamper the security forces operation against the militants in the village. They pelted stones on the police and para-military CRPF and additional forces were rushed to the spot for crowd control.
People also didn’t allow the security forces to clear the debris. Police made announcements during night asking people not to go near the debris as there may be explosives.
The bodies were handed over to the relatives of the three militants for burial. However, they will be buried tomorrow as it was late in the night.
A Srinagar based defence spokesman said here that the operation was launched in Maindura Village of Tral during the late last might based on specific intelligence inputs.
The spokesman said: “Specific intelligence was received by the RR unit of 1 Sector Rashtriya Rifles as well as the police about presence of three terrorists in Village Maindura. The operation were promptly launched at 2300 hours and the cordon was in place by 0300 hours ensuring least discomfort to the locals. At about 0530 hours, despite warnings to surrender, terrorists opened up with heavy volume of fire on the Security Forces, resulting into fire fight which continued for hours with intermittent pauses. At about 1700hrs, due to heavy fire fight, the house in which the terrorists were holed up, caught fire.”
“The operation was carried out with complete synergy between Army, CRPF and J&K Police right from the stage of intelligence collection to its execution. The principal of zero collateral damage was adhered to during the entire operation. Security Forces, despite coming under heavy volume of fire, exercised maximum restraint and gave adequate opportunity to the terrorists to surrender”, the spokesman said.
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