Hizbul militant gunned down in encounter in Anantnag

A newly recruited local militant of Hizb-ul-Mujahideen outfit and a civilian were killed during a gunfight in Bijbehara area of south Kashmir’s Anantnag district late Thursday night.

A police spokesperson said that Army’s 3-Rashtriya Rifles and special operations group (SOG) of J&K police launched a search operation in Kanelwan area of Bijbehara, the home town of Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti, after specific input about presence of three militants there. “During the search operation, terrorists fired on security forces and at around midnight taking advantage of darkness two terrorists managed to give a slip.

Cutoff party of Army retaliated fire and later on, it was learnt that a civilian riding motorcycle got killed in the cross firing,” he said.

The spokesperson said a militant of Hizbul outfit, identified as Yawar Nissar Shergujri alias Algazi was killed in the gunfight. “One SLR, 2 magazines, 40 rounds, one Chinese hand grenade and a pouch was recovered from his possession. One solider of 3-RR namely Rifleman Rohit Kumar also sustained injuries,” he said.

Sources said that Yawar was the first militant from Bijbehara town in more than a decade and had joined militant ranks less than two weeks before. The latest encounter took place barely few hours after an army major and a soldier were killed in neighboring Shopian district on Thursday morning.

With militancy, especially home grown, on rise, security forces have launched a massive operation to flush out the ultras. Nearly 120 militants have been killed so far this year, which is highest in the last eight years. The security forces are going after militants as part of operation "hunt down" and on the basis of a “hit list” of militants.

Meanwhile, reports said, clashes erupted between stone pelting youth and security forces in old town area of Anantnag as soon as the news of the killing of the militant and a civilian spread. Authorities imposed restrictions as a preventive measure in Bijbehara after handing Yawar’s body over to his family for burial.