2 Hizb militants killed in Bijbehara gunfight: Police

Srinagar: Two local Hizb-ul-Mujahideen militants were killed in a pre-dawn gunfight at Bijbehara in Anantnag district of South Kashmir, police said on Thursday.
Acting on a specific lead, police said cordon was launched in Bagendera Mohalla, Bijebera in the mid-night. “As the police and other forces zeroed in on the house where militants were hiding, the militants opened heavy volume of fire triggered a fierce gunbattle,” a police officer said.
In the ensuing gunfight, two militants were killed and they were identified as Safdar Amin, a resident of Bijbehara and Burhan Ah Ganaie alias Saifullah resident of Anantnag, who had left his physiotherapy course and joined the Hizb.
According to police records, Safdar Amin had a long history of crime records and several cases were registered against him for planning and executing militant attacks in the area. “Similarly Burhan Ganaie was also involved in several cases,” police said.
It said that incriminating materials including arms and ammunition was recovered from the site of encounter. “All these materials have been taken in the case records for further investigation and to probe their complicity in other crime cases,” police said.
Director General of Police Dilbagh Singh said two militants killed in the encounter belonged to Hizbul Mujahideen. “One was active since 2017 and another had become active in June 2018. Operation was carried out very neatly and there was no collateral damage,” he said.
Soon after the news of killing of two local militants spread in the area, shopkeepers downed their shutters to observe the complete shutdown while as youth blocked roads to prevent traffic movement.
Witnesses said that thousands of mourners reached the homes of slain militants to have their last glimpse and to participate in their funeral prayers. “The bodies of militants were taken in the form of procession of thousands of people amid pro-Islam and pro-freedom slogans to the martyrs graveyard,” witnesses said.