Laid to rest in presence of family members
Tral: A month old militant and his associate were killed in an encounter here in Southern district of Pulwama.
The gunfight occurred at Tral village of Saimoh where culminated with the killing of two militants identified as Muhammad Maqbool Chopan, resident of Seer Tral and Aqib Ahmed Wani of Barabndina Sangam.
The village was cordoned off after combined forced received information about the presence of militants in a house.
Reliable sources told news agency KNT that during the operation, the house owner identified as Ghulam Muhammad Sheikh son of Ghulam Qadir Shiekh was detained by police for questioning.
The bodies of both the militants were buried at Sonmarg area Ganderbal in presence of their family members.
Chopan was a month old militant who is survived by his four little children including three daughters.
Scores of people visited the houses of both militants as the news about their deaths spread in the area. They expressed sympathies with the bereaved families.
Divulging information about the gunfight, a police official said that during the intervening night of Sunday and Monday on a specific input generated by Awantipora Police, a cordon and search operation was launched jointly by Awantipora Police, 42 RR and CRPF 180 Battalion at Saimoh Tral area of Police District Pulwama.
During the search operation, the hiding militants fired on the joint search party. The fire was retaliated leading to an encounter.
In the ensuing encounter, 2 militants have been killed and their bodies have been retrieved from the site of encounter.
The identification and affiliations of the killed militants is being ascertained.
Besides some incriminating material, arms and ammunition was recovered from the encounter site.
All the recovered materials have been taken into case records for further investigation and to probe their complicity in other militant crimes.
Due to efforts of the Police and security forces, it was a clean operation and no collateral damage took place during the encounter.
In this connection a case under relevant sections of law stands registered in Police Station Tral and investigation has been initiated. (KNT)
