Hizb presence in area has ended completely first time since 1989: IGP
Qayoom Khan
Srinagar, June 26: Three Hizb-ul-Mujahideen militants were killed in a gunfight in south Kashmir’s Tral area of Pulwama district.
With their killing, the Inspector General of Kashmir Vijay Kumar on Friday claimed that there is now no active of the Hizb-ul-Mujahideenin Tral for the first time since the inception of the militancy in 1989.
A police spokesperson said that based on a specific input regarding the presence of militants, a joint cordon and search operation was launched by Police, army’s 42RR and 180 batallion CRPF in Chewa Ullar area.
“During the search operation as the presence of (militants) got ascertained they were given opportunity to surrender. However, they fired indiscriminately upon the joint search party, which was retaliated leading to an encounter,” he said. The operation was suspended last night and resumed at the first light today.
“In the ensuing encounter, three (militants) were killed and their bodies were retrieved from the site of encounter,” he said, adding, “Arms and ammunition including two AK rifle, six AK Magazine, five AK rounds, one Pistol, a Pistol Magazine, four Pistol rounds and other incriminating materials were recovered from the site of encounter.”
While police as part of its strategy after covid-19 pandemic don’t reveal identify, sources identified one of them as Mohammad Qaasim Shah alias Jugnu of Midoora Tral who was active from 3 March 2017 and was pursuing a B.Tech Degree in Civil Engineering prior to joining militancy. The others were identified as Basit Ahmad Parray of Laribal Tral who had joined militancy on May 27 this year and had completed his degree in Bachelor of Science in Information Technology. Another slain militant Haris Manzoor Bhat of Koil Shikragah Tral had disappeared on April 25 this year. The bodies were sent to Handwara for their last rites after conducting medico-legal formalities including collection of their DNA, the police spokesperson added.
Meanwhile, IGP Kashmir Vijay Kumar told GNS that “Today’s encounter marked the end to Hizb-ul Mujahideen in Tral area of Pulwama. “ It is for the first time since 1989 that there is no active militant of Hizb-Ul-Mujahideen in Tral.”
3 militants killed in Tral encounter
