Local militant killed in encounter in J&K's Nowgam

A local militant was killed in an ongoing gunfight that broke out in Nowgam area on Srinagar outskirts Tuesday night.

The gun fight erupted after a joint team of J&K police and paramilitary CRPF launched a cordon-and-search-operation (CASO) in Wagoora area of Nowgam, on specific information about the presence of two militants there on Tuesday night, reports said.

“As the searches were going on, the hiding militants opened fire on security forces who retaliated, triggering an encounter. Reinforcements were rushed to the spot and all the exit and entrance points of the area were sealed so that militants don’t escape taking advantage of the night,” a police official said.

“With the first light of the morning, the gunbattle resumed and one militant has been killed so far,” he said and identified the slain ultra as Uzair Ashraf Dar, a resident of Wachi- Zainapora area of south Kashmir’s Shopian district.

One pistol along with a magazine and six rounds besides two grenades have been recovered from Dar, who had joined militancy this January. Another militant was still believed to be trapped in the area, the official said, adding the operation was going on.

Earlier on May 17, two local militants affiliated with Al-Badr outfit were killed in a gunfight with security forces in Khonmoh area on Srinagar outskirts. Pertinently, over 50 militants have been killed in J&K so far this year and most of them were locals from south Kashmir.

Last month Kashmir police chief Vijay Kumar said that joining of local boys into militancy was a serious concern and there was a need for more hard-work and efforts to keep local youths away from the violence.

“A series of steps have already been taken to prevent locals from joining militancy. We delay encounters by two to three hours only to allow local boys (militants) surrender,” he said.