2 ultras shot, snatched rifle recovered in J&K

Security forces shot dead two militants in a brief encounter in Khumriyal village of Lolab in North Kashmir’s Kupwara district on Thursday. A rifle snatched from a police guard of a former Minister two days ago was recovered from the slain militants belonging to Hizbul Mujahideen outfit.

Official sources said that security forces received input on the movement of gunmen in Khumriyal area early on Thursday. A siege was laid in the highly militarized area situated closer to the Line of Control (LoC) that triggered a gunfight.

During the gunfight two local militants Zahoor Ahmad and Bilal Ahmad Shah, both residents of Shatmuqam village in the vicinity were killed.

Militants have not found too many local recruits in Lolab area for many years but presence of foreigners has been often recorded in the region. Most of the encounters in the area have been reported between fresh infiltrators and the security forces.

However, the region came to limelight again after a geology doctoral researcher in Aligarh Muslim University Manaan Wani joined militant ranks. Wani is a resident of Lolab Valley, whom security forces suspect that he has raised to a senior rank in the outfit. He is believed to be active in south Kashmir. Recently, police filed a case against a local news gathering agency for uploading his article on their website, which was later removed. Wani’s involvement in the militancy is likely to be the reason for the other boys to join his outfit.

Police said the bodies of the duo were recovered along with weapons which included one AK-47 and an INSAS rifle. The latter weapon was snatched from local legislator and former minister’s security guard on Tuesday.

The militants are facing huge cash and arms crunch as the LoC has been effectively tightened by the security forces making ingress of infiltrators a difficult. Most of the bank loot and rifle snatching incidents have taken place in south Kashmir region. Two fresh incidents took place in south Kashmir in the past two days.

Sources said unknown militants snatched service rifle of J&K Bank security guard at Brakpora in Anantnag district on Thursday afternoon.

Official sources said he was overpowered by the suspected militants. However, there was no immediate report of any damage in the incident.

They said that a manhunt has been launched to nab the assailants. No militant outfit claimed responsibility for the snatching act.

On Wednesday, militants looted a cash of Rs 5 lacs from State Bank of India branch in Brakpora village of south Kashmir.