JCO, 2 Burhan group militants killed in Pulwama encounter

Ahmed Ali Fayyaz

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SRINAGAR, Oct 26: A junior commissioned officer of Army and two militants of Hizbul Mujahideen’s Burhan group died in a fierce encounter in Pulwama district of South Kashmir on Monday.

Informed sources told STATE TIMES that Special Operations Group (SOG) of Pulwama District Police and troops from a unit of Rashtriya Rifles 44 Bn. Swooped down on a militant hideout at Drobgam in Rajpora area of Pulwama on Monday evening. Operation was launched after SSP Pulwama learned from a source that one militant of Karimabad was hiding in the village.

SOG and Army laid a tight siege to the neighbourhood but the holed up militants opened fire and made unsuccessful attempts to escape. Suddenly, someone from the public address system of the village mosque called the residents to come out and resist the advance of the troops. Hundreds of people gathered and attempted to spoil the operation while shouting slogans and engaging the Police and paramilitary forces in ding dong clashes.

Troops nevertheless persisted with the operation, denying the holed up militants any chance to escape. Subedar KVS Reddy sustained critical injuries in the beginning of the encounter. He was evacuated and airlifted to Army’s 92 Base Hospital in Srinagar where he succumbed to injuries late in the evening.

Sources said that two local militants of Hizbul Mujahideen’s Burhan Wani group got killed in the gunfight. They were identified as Afaqullah Bhat S/o Abdul Rashid Bhat R/o Karimabad and Abdul Manan Dar S/o Bashir Ahmad Dar R/o Amarbugh. Troops did not call off the operation as they could not carry out full search of the hideout.

DIG South Kashmir Nitish Kumar confirmed the death of two militants and one JCO. He said that since the residents had also spotted an injured militant, forces did not wind up the operation even after the exchange of gunfire subsided. “We had information only about one militant. But two militants died and one more was believed to have got injured and could be hiding somewhere. We will resume searches in the morning tomorrow”, DIG said.

DIG confirmed that both the slain militants had joined Burhan’s group earlier in 2015 when he started to emerge as an icon for youngsters “on account of the wide coverage he got through media”. Burhan was the first Kashmiri militant who clicked pictures and shot videos with over a dozen of his armed militants---all without masks---and got them widely circulated through social media including Facebook, WhatsApp and YouTube.

Many of Burhan’s associates are residents of Afaqullah Bhat’s Kareemabad village of Pulwama district. They include Constable Naseer Ahmad----Personal Security Officer of senior PDP leader and Minister of R&B Syed Altaf Bukhari. He had deserted his duty and escaped with two AK-47 rifles.

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