Two Jaish militants killed in Kashmir’s Pulwama

Two militants of Jaish-e-Muhammad outfit were killed in a nocturnal gunfight in Drabgam village of south Kashmir’s Pulwama district on Friday.

A police spokesperson said based on a credible input about the presence of militants in Drabgam area of Pulwama, 35 kms from here, a cordon-and-search-operation (CASO) was launched by the army and police during wee hours of Friday.

“As the searches were going on, militants fired upon which was retaliated by the forces leading to a gunfight. In the ensuing encounter, two terrorists were killed,” he said and identified the slain as Shahid Mushtaq Baba and Inayat Abdullah Zigar both residents of Pulwama.

The slain militants were affiliated with Jaish and were wanted by the law for their complicity in several cases, the spokesperson said. “Shahid was active in Shopian and Pulwama areas and had a long history of terror crime records for which several terror cases were registered against him. Inayat was an active supporter of terror activities of Jaish for a long time though he joined the outfit as active cadre very recently,” he added.

Earlier, intense clashes erupted after the youth took to streets and pelted the forces with stones to disrupt the anti-militant operation. The forces lobbed tear gas shells to disperse them.

Following the routine, authorities suspended the mobile Internet service in Pulwama and Shoian districts soon after the gunfight broke out.

In 2018, over 250 militants were killed in Kashmir which was the highest in a decade while 217 ultras were killed in 2017. However, despite increase in encounters and militant killings, Army maintains that recruitment of local youth into militancy has seen a decline in Kashmir during the recent months.