3 Militants in Pulwama, 1 in Sopore Killed in an Encounter

The exchange of fire broke out early Saturday, 18 May.

Visuals from Panzgam village of Jammu and Kashmir’s Awantipora.

(Photo: ANI)

Three Hizbul Mujahideen (HM) militants were killed on Saturday, 18 May, including the one involved in the killing of an Army jawan, Aurangzeb last year, in a pre-dawn operation by security forces in Pulwama district of Jammu and Kashmir, the police said.

The police added that the slain militants have been identified as Showkat Dar of Panzgam in Awantipora, Irfan War of Wadoora Payeen in Sopore and Muzaffar Sheikh of Tahab in Pulwama.

Security forces had launched a cordon and search operation in the Panzgam area of Awantipora early on Saturday morning, following specific information about the presence of militants there, an army official said.

He said that as the forces were conducting searches in the area in south Kashmir, the militants fired at them. The forces retaliated and in the ensuing encounter, three militants were killed, the official said.

He further said that their bodies have been recovered along with weapons and war-like stores seized from the site of the encounter.

"Dar was part of a group involved in killing of Army jawan Aurangzeb in 2018 and in the killing of a policeman Aqib Ahmad Wagay the same year. Several terror crime cases were registered against him," the police spokesperson said.

He added that according to police records the three were affiliated to proscribed Hizbul Mujahideen and were wanted for their complicity in a series of terror crimes including attack on security establishments and civilian atrocities.

Another Killed in J&K’s Sopore

Another militant was killed in Sopore town of Baramulla, a police spokesman said.

The police said, “One terrorist has been neutralised in the encounter whose identity and affiliation is yet to ascertained. Arms and ammunition have been recovered from site of encounter. Search is underway.”