Two militants killed in encounter in Kashmir’s Budgam

 Two militants affiliated with the Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad outfit were killed in an overnight encounter with security forces in central Kashmir’s Budgam district on Wednesday.

The encounter erupted after security forces launched a cordon-and-search-operation (CASO) at Moachwah in Chadoora area of Budgam around 7 pm on Tuesday following ‘specific’ information about the presence of militants there, a police official said.

Inspector General Police (IGP), Kashmir, Vijay Kumar said that during the search operation militants fired at the forces triggering a gun battle yesterday evening. “Today, morning two militants including a Pakistani Ilyas were killed. The second slain militant has been identified as Javaid Ahmed from Pulwama,” he said.

The IGP said that the role of Illyas in recent highway attacks can’t be ruled out and that police were investigating their involvement. “We gave full opportunity to militants who were trapped at Mouchwa to surrender,” he said.

In relentless anti-insurgency operations, security forces have killed 200 militants, including 30 foreigners, in 87 operations across Jammu and Kashmir this year. As many as 157 militants were killed in Kashmir in 2019 while the number was 257 in 2018 which was the highest in a decade.

In 2019, out of 157 slain militants, 33 were Pakistanis and the majority of them belonged to Jaish-e-Mohammad. In 2019, local militants accounted for 79% of deaths in encounters while the number has grown to 88% this year.