MPhil holder among two ultras killed in J&K encounter

SRINAGAR: Two Hizbul Mujahideen terrorists were killed early on Wednesday morning in an encounter with security forces in Nowgam area in the outskirts of Srinagar city.

Jammu and Kashmir police said a joint team of the Army’s 55 Rashtriya Rifles, SOG and CRPF had launched a cordon-and-search operation after receiving specific intelligence inputs on Tuesday night about the presence of terrorists in a residential house in Sathu area of Nowgam in Srinagar district. Both the terrorists were killed in a gunfight.

One of the two terrorists, Sabzar Ahmad Sofi (32) of Anantnag, was an MSc and MPhil in botany. He had qualified the NET and JRF exams, sources known to the family said. Sofi’s aide, Asif Ahmad Gojri of Khiram Sirigufwara village in Anantnag district, had joined the militant ranks this year. Soon after the encounter, residents of Nowgam pelted stones on security forces. Hundreds turned up to attend the last rites of the slain terrorists.

Separatists, Syed Ali Geelani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, and Mohammad Yasin Malik of JKLF called for a complete shutdown on October 25, against the killing of Sofi, whom they called a “scholar”, and his associate.