Two Hizbul militants killed in Baramulla encounter

Two local Hizb-ul-Mujahideen militants were killed in an overnight encounter with the security forces in Rafiabad area of north Kashmir's Baramulla district on Wednesday.

A police official said that a joint party of Army’s 22 Rashtriya Rifles and Special Operations Group (SOG) of J&K Police launched a search operation after specific information about the presence of militants in Pazalpora village of Rafiabad, 60 km from here, late Tuesday evening.

"As the search party intensified the combing operation, the militants hiding in a house opened indiscriminate fire on them, triggering an encounter. The operation was halted for the night and resumed in the morning when both the militants were neutralised," he said and added two AK rifles, five magazines, a hand grenade and a pouch have been found at the encounter site.

The slain militants were identified as Gulzar Ahmad and Basit Ahmad, both locals belonging to Hizbul outfit.

The encounter comes as the situation in the Valley was already precarious after the killing of six policemen and two civilians in south Kashmir last week. While most of the encounters in recent months have been happening in southern districts of Kulgam, Shopian and Pulwama, a senior police officer said, north Kashmir has more militants active on the ground than the South.

"Contrary to what is being projected in the media that South Kashmir is hotbed of militancy, the figures reveal that North has more active militants. The militants in the north are mostly foreigners," he told Deccan Herald.

Stating that in the next few months, north Kashmir may hot up, he said, "South Kashmir has 112 active militants and 99 among them are locals while the north has 141 ultras active out of whom 118 are foreigners. The militants in the north are well-trained and equipped compared to their counterparts in South."