Srinagar: Two local terrorists were killed in an encounter with security forces on Tuesday in the Pulwama district of south Kashmir, police said.
The encounter broke out at Rajpora in the Awantipora area of Pulwama district late on Monday night after security forces launched an anti-militancy operation, a police official said.
Sharing details of the incident, police spokesman in a statement here said that yesterday evening, on a specific input generated by police regarding presence of militants in Rajpora area of Awantipora, a joint cordon and search operation was launched by police along with the troops of Army’s 42RR and CRPF 130Bn/180Bn in the said area.
During the search operation, as the joint search party approached towards the suspected spot, “the hiding terrorists fired indiscriminately upon the search party leading to an encounter, in which two local militants were killed.
Police identified the slain as Shahid Ahmad Rather, son of Ghulam Ahmad Rather, resident of Larow Jageer, Tral, who it said was linked with proscribed outfit JeM, and Umar Yousuf, son of Mohammad Yousef, resident of Tukro Keegam Shopian, linked with proscribed outfit LeT.
As per police records, the spokesman said “both were categorized terrorists and part of groups involved in several terror crime cases including attacks on police and security forces and civilian atrocities.”
Besides other cases, “Shahid was involved in the killing of a lady Mst Shakeela of Aripal and a government employee Javaid Ahmad of Lurgam Tral. He was also involved in motivating/recruiting local youth to join terrorist ranks and on his motivation Mohammad Shafi Dar of Wagad Tral had joined terrorist ranks who was later on neutralized in an anti-terrorist operation in Kulgam on December 29, 2021,” spokesman said.
Inspector General of Police (IGP), Kashmir zone, Vijay Kumar in a tweet said “Killed terrorists identified as Shahid Rather of Tral and Umar Yousuf of Shopian. Besides other terror crimes, terrorist Shahid was involved in the killing of a woman Mst Shakeela of Aripal and a govt employee/peon Javid Ahmed of Lurgam Tral.”
Police said incriminating materials, arms and ammunition including two AK-47 rifles have been recovered from the site of the encounter. All the recovered materials have been taken into case records for further investigation.
In this regard, a case under relevant sections of law has been registered and investigation has been initiated. “People are requested to cooperate till the area at the encounter site is completely sanitized and cleared of all the explosive materials, if any,” police spokesman said.
