'Doda militancy-free' as three militants killed in Anantnag encounter in J&K

Three militants, affiliated with Lashker-e-Toiba and Hizb-ul-Mujahideen outfits were killed in an early morning encounter with security forces in south Kashmir’s Anantnag district on Monday.

The encounter erupted after Army and police launched a cordon-and-search-operation (CASO) at Khul Chohar village in Anantnag, 60 kms from here, following ‘specific inputs’ about the presence of militants in the area, reports said.

A police spokesperson said as the search party moved towards the suspected spot, the hiding militants fired which was retaliated by security forces, triggering an encounter in which three militants were killed. The security forces recovered an AK-47 assault rifle and two pistols from the encounter site.

The spokesperson identified one of the slain militants as Masood, a commander of the Hizbul from the hilly Doda district of Jammu region. “Doda in Jammu becomes totally militancy free once again as Masood was the last surviving terrorist in the district. Masood was involved in a rape case and was absconding ever since. He later joined Hizbul Mujahideen and shifted his area of operation to Kashmir,” the spokesperson said.

He said the other two slain militants were affiliated with the LeT without making their identity. Earlier on May 17, police had declared Doda as militancy free after only active militant in the district was killed in an encounter.

Security forces have launched relentless counter-insurgency operations across Kashmir since last few weeks in which dozens of militants have been killed. In June only 47 militants were killed in over a dozen encounters across the Valley.

Since the beginning of this year, 125 militants have been killed in Jammu and Kashmir; 118 in the valley and seven in Jammu. 18 militants were killed in January, seven each in February and March, 28 in April, 18 in May.

Recently Inspector General Police (IGP), Kashmir, Vijay Kumar, said that 100-200 militants were still active in Kashmir. On Saturday, he said that 29 foreign militants are active in south Kashmir woods while asserting that the security forces will neutralize them once they come down.