Srinagar, Mar 12 : Three militants including Eesa Fazli and Syed Owais, both of whom left their B.Tech third year course to join militancy, were killed in an encounter today, a development being seen as a blow to the attempts by ISIS to gain ground in the Kashmir Valley.
The third militant was identified as Sabzar Ahmad.
Three militants were spotted at a village in the Hakura area of Anantnag district in south Kashmir late last night and special teams were despatched after intelligence inputs confirmed the presence of Fazli and Owais, officials said.
The locality was cordoned at 1 AM and in a brief encounter, the three cadres of Tehreek-ul-Mujahideen, a terror group which has announced its affiliation to the ISIS, were gunned down as they tried to escape under the cover of darkness, they said.
The operation was kept “top secret” till its execution as Fazli had managed to give the security forces a slip many a times before, an official said.
“In the process, arms and ammunition which include AK 47 rifles, pistols, hand-grenades, etc. were recovered from the encounter site. There was no collateral damage during the operation, ” a police spokesman said.
One of the slain militants was involved in a recent attack on a police guard post at Soura in the city, in which a police constable was killed, he added.
Fazli along with Owais left engineering studies in third year and joined militancy in 2017. It was initially believed that the two had joined Hizbul Mujahideen, but later it was found they were part of the Ansar Ghazwat-ul-Hind, a radical outfit which called for jihad to establish caliphate in Kashmir.
Son of a principal, Fazli went missing from his hostel room in Baba Ghulam Shah Badshah University (BGSBU) in Rajouri on 17 August last year.
His death was also announced by his father on Facebook. The helpless parent had been making fervent appeals for his return.
Meanwhile, the authorities today imposed restrictions in parts of Srinagar, as a precautionary measure to maintain law and order in view of the killings of three militants — one of whom hailed from the city, police said.
Restrictions under Section 144 of the CrPc were imposed in eight police station areas of Srinagar, a police official said.
He said the curbs were imposed in the jurisdiction of Nowhatta, Khanyar, Rainawari, Safakadal, M R Gunj, Maisuma, Kralkhud and Soura police station areas of the city.
Meanwhile, a spontaneous shutdown was observed in many areas across the valley as shops and other business establishments were shut and public transport was minimal, the official said.
Clashes between groups of youths and security forces broke out in several areas of the city, he said.
He said stone pelting have been reported from Soura, Anchar, Old Barzulla, Lal Chowk and other areas of the city.
Authorities have ordered closure of schools and other educational institutions as a precautionary measure in Srinagar and south Kashmir.
Kashmir University has suspended classes for the day and postponed examinations as well. Islamic University of Science and Technology has also postponed examinations for today.
“Your police seeks cooperation of citizens for maintaining order and ensuring peace. Today you will find restrictions in some parts of city # Srinagar. While it is a cause of inconvenience, we assure these control orders are temporary. For any assistance pl dial 100 (sic),” the Jammu and Kashmir Police tweeted.
Meanwhile, thousands of people on Monday participated in the funeral prayers of slain militant Eesa Fazili in Ahmednagar area of Soura.
People were seen jostling for space at a ground called locally as ‘Sharjah’ where the funeral of Fazili, led by his father – a school principal – was held.
After the culmination of funeral, people raised pro militant, pro freedom and pro-Zakir Musa slogans, while Fazili’s body was taken for burial at Umerhear graveyard.
Later, clashes erupted in the area with protestors pelting stones.
