2 militants killed in Handwara

Two Laskhar-e-Toiba militants were killed in a brief encounter with security forces in Handwara area of north Kashmir’s Kupwara district on Sunday. A police officer said that a joint party of the army’s 21 Rashtriya Rifles and Special Operations Group (SOG) of the Jammu and Kashmir Police launched a search operation after inputs about presence of militants in Waripora village of Handwara, 75 km from the state capital.

“Two foreign militants, who were cornered in an orchard just a hundred metres away from a populated area in Waripora, opened fire on the search party. Both were killed in a brief encounter at 4.15 pm,” he said. Ghulam Jeelani, Superintendent of Police, Handwara, confirmed the killing of militants.

“Both the slain militants are foreigners and we are trying to ascertain their identity. Since Lashkar-e-Toiba is active in the region, we suspect them to be from the same outfit,” he said. On April 27, three soldiers, including an officer, and two unidentified fidayeen (suicide) militants were killed, when the latter launched a pre-dawn attack on a military installation near the Line of Control in Kupwara district.

200 active militants
According to J&K Police estimates, there are more than 200 active militants in the Valley, mostly of Hizb-ul-Mujahideen and LeT. Around 90 among them are foreigners. The rest are locals, mostly youth in the age group of 18 to 28 years.