JOIN USTwo Hizbul Mujahideen militants killed in J&K’s Pulwama
Two militants affiliated with Hizbul Mujahideen outfit were killed in an encounter with security forces in Khrew area of south Kashmir’s Pulwama district on Friday.
Reports said the gun battle broke out in the wee hours of Friday after Army and J&K police cordoned off the area following a tip-off about the presence of militants there.
In the ensuing firefight, police said, two militants were killed while an AK rifle and pistol was recovered from the encounter site.
A police spokesman identified one of the slain militants as Musaib Mushtaq of Khrew who was involved in the killing of a school peon Javid Ahmad of Lurgam last month. Police are trying to ascertain the identity of the second militant.
Nearly 100 militants and 21 security forces and J&K police personnel have been killed in Jammu Kashmir since the beginning of this year. The highest number of militants (31) were killed in July, which included several top commanders of the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT).
Among 100 militants killed in J&K this year, only 11 are Pakistanis while the rest are all locals. According to the Army, there are still 200-225 militants active across the J&K despite the fact that almost no infiltration has taken place so far this year.
Official data reveals that 82 locals joined militancy in the first seven months of 2021, while 88 ultras were killed in the same period in encounters with the security forces.
The spate of recruitment suggests that the counter-offensive of security forces is proving to be a zero-sum game, as for every militant killed a new one is immediately being recruited. Last year, there were around 220 active militants in Kashmir and despite the killing of 80 militants this year, the number, as per police records, remains more or less the same.