2 Hizb terrorists killed in Kulgam encounter

SRINAGAR: Two Hizb-ul-Mujahideen terrorists were killed in an encounter in Gopalpora area of south Kashmir’s Kulgam district on Wednesday.
Acting on intelligence inputs, security forces had launched a cordon-and-search operation in the village when holed-up terrorists opened fired at the search party. In the ensuing gunfight, two terrorists were killed, said police.
The slain terrorists were identified as Irfan Manzoor Bhat from Kulgam’s Poniwah area and Zahid Ahmad Mantoo from Shopian’s Ferripora area. Both were affiliated with the proscribed Hizb-ul-Mujahideen outfit and wanted in several crimes, including terror attacks on security establishments and civilian atrocities, said cops.
As per police records, Zahid was involved in planning and executing a series of attacks in the area — including the murder of three policemen in Shopian’s Batgund last year — while Irfan had recently joined the outfit and was part of the group involved in killing Abdul Majeed Dar in Kulgam’s Shalipora. Both also had several other criminal cases registered against them.
A huge cache of arms and ammunition was recovered from the encounter site, cops said.