Budgam district in Jammu and Kashmir. Google Maps
The Jammu and Kashmir Police on Wednesday claimed to have killed three militants in Rudbugh village of Budgam district. Two of those killed had gone missing last month leading to apprehensions that they had joined militant ranks, while the third had also left his home three months ago to become a militant.
After receiving information about the presence of militants at Rudbugh village on Tuesday evening, a Special Operation Group of the J&K Police, Army’s Rashtriya Rifles and CRPF launched an operation in the area. The operation continued through the night and three militants were killed in the morning, police said.
Budgam Superintendent of Police Tejinder Singh said that they had information about the presence of militants in Rudbugh area. ‘’We launched a cordon and search operation. Once we came to know that there were some local boys inside, we made announcements through speakers and tried to convince them to surrender. But they fired back at security forces. This operation continued all night and in the morning we killed the three militants.” The police have recovered an SLR and a pistol from the spot, police said.
The militants have been identified as Aquib Gul, Sajjad Ahmad and Tafazul Islam alias Javid Sheikh.
Tafazul of Churpora village had left his home in March soon after the police registered a case against him, accusing him of torching a police vehicle in Chadoora area of Budgam district. Aquib (25) of Hyderpora, whose father is a government official, ran a hardware shop in Chadoor area and went missing from his house on June 27 even as relatives claimed they had no clue about him joining militant ranks.
Sajjad, in his early 20s and whose family lives in Downtown area of Srinagar, had cases registered against him and was continuously harassed by the police after he participated in stone-pelting incidents, locals claimed.
Multiple funerals were held for the three slain militants with protesters clashing with the police at old city and Hyderpora. Police used tear gas and pellets for crowd control and more than 10 people, including a photojournalist, were injured as protesters tried to take Sajjad’s body towards the Jamia Masjid. Curfew was imposed in some parts of old city, mobile internet was snapped and broadband speed was slowed down in the city.
