Srinagar /May, 18 : Jammu and Kashmir Police on Saturday said the three militants killed in a gunfight in Panzgam village of South Kashmir’s Pulwama district were affiliated with Hizb ul Mujahideen.
In a statement issued on Saturday the police identified the slain militants as Showkat Dar of Panzgam Awantipora, Irfan War of Wadoora Payeen Sopore and Muzaffar Sheikh of Tahab Pulwama. They were killed on Saturday morning in a gunfight.
“On a credible input, a cordon & search operation was launched by police and security forces today morning at Panzgam area in Awantipora,” reads the police statement.
Saying that during the search operation, the hiding militants fired on the search party and the fire was retaliated leading to an encounter.,the police in its statement said “as per police records Showkat Dar had a long history of crime records and was involved in planning & executing series of attacks in the area and many other civilian atrocities” .
“He was part of a group involved in killing of Army jawan Aurangzeb last year in 2018. He was also involved in killing of a policeman Aqib Ahmad Wagay last year,” the statement reads further.
The statement also said “incriminating materials including arms & ammunition was recovered from the site of encounter.” Police has registered a case and all these materials have been taken in the case records for the purpose of investigation and to probe their complicity in other crimes, added the statement .
