Handwara encounter continues on second day
Srinagar, Mar 02: The encounter between the militants and the government forces in Babagund village of Handwara in north Kashmir’s Kupwara district continued on the second consecutive day Saturday.
Two houses, two cowsheds and a tin shed have been razed to the ground by the government forces during the gunfight that broke out around 3 am on Friday.
Four forces’ personnel including two CRPF personnel and two cops of Jammu and Kashmir Police were killed yesterday after a militant presumed to be dead stood up from the debris and fired at the forces’ personnel.
Locals said a huge blast was heard near the gunfight site.
A 22-year-old youth was also killed and five others wounded after government forces fired pellets and bullets during clashes that broke out near the gunfight site yesterday.
Earlier in the day, IGP Kashmir SP Pani said the operation was going on in Babagund and that the details will be shared later.
Meanwhile, a complete shutdown was observed in Handwara town.
Militant killed in Kulgam ‘had plans for Pulwama-like suicide attack’
Srinagar, Mar 02: One of the three militants killed in an encounter in south Kashmir’s Kulgam district last week had plans to carry out an attack similar to the February 14 Pulwama suicide strike, according to a purported video in which he spoke about such a plot.
The three militants killed in the encounter in Turigam area of Kulgam district on February 24 belonged to the Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) militant group and were identified as Raqib Ahmad, a resident of Shiganpora, and Waleed and Numan of Pakistan.
A purported video of Ahmad, shot before he was killed, went viral on social media on Saturday. In the clip, he spoke about his plans to carry out a ‘fidayeen’ (suicide) attack on government forces.
“I will be in heaven by the time this video reaches you,” Ahmad said in the over six-minute video in which he glorified suicide attacks.
The video is similar to the one that surfaced immediately after the Pulwama attack in which JeM suicide bomber Adil Ahmad Dar claimed responsibility for the strike.
A police official said they were ascertaining the veracity of the video.
