JOIN USTRF militant who killed civilian gunned down in Bandipora: J&K police
A militant,who police said was involved in the recent killing of a civilian was killed in an encounter with the security forces in Gundjehangir village of Hajin area in north Kashmir’s Bandipora district on Monday.
While J&K police said the militant identified as Imtiyaz Ahmad Dar was affiliated with The Resistance Front (TRF)/ Lashker-e-Taiba (LeT), and was involved in recent civilian killing at Shahgund, Bandipora, the family of the slain denied the charges.
A local journalist from the area, Sajad Gul, uploaded several videos on his Twitter handle where the family denied the charges of the police that Dar was a militant. “Imtiyaz was dragged from home by the army and was killed in a staged encounter: Family,” reads the caption of a video posted by Gul.
Later in the evening, Gul in another tweet alleged that he was being threatened by the police after he posted these videos. “After my several videos on the #Encounter in Gundjehangir I am receiving calls from police, threatening me to report at the police station,” he claimed.
However, in the evening J&K police denied the allegations. “A video clip is being circulated on social media in which false allegations are being made about the facts of todays operation at Gundjahangeer Hajin. The clips are being engineered to rouse passions and to disturb law and order (sic),” Bandipora police tweeted.
Pertinently, four alleged militant associates were arrested by the police in Bandipora on Sunday. The police claimed they were involved in the killing of Mohammad Shafi Lone, a cab driver, who was killed on October 5 evening. A president of a taxi stand in Bandipora, Lone was one of three civilians killed in three separate incidents in the Valley on October 5.
In another encounter, which broke out at Khagund village in Verinag area of south Kashmir’s Anantnag district, a militant was killed while a policeman got injured. The identity of the slain militant was not ascertained immediately.
The latest encounters come at a time when security forces are on a high alert in the wake of recent civilian killings in Kashmir. Seven civilians, including four members of the minority community, were killed by militants last week in the Valley.