2 militants killed in Kulgam gunfight

Kulgam: Two militants were killed in an encounter with security forces in the wee hours at Zadoora-Nipora area of South Kashmir’s Kulgam district, security officials said Saturday.
Police officials said that a joint team of police, army and the CRPF launched a cordon and search operation on specific information about the presence of militants in Nipora village. “When the forces fired at the suspected spot, the militants opened fire at the security forces triggering an encounter. In the exchange of fire, two militants were killed in a clean operation,” a police official said.
Defence spokesman in Srinagar Colonel Rajesh Kalia said a joint operation was launched in early hours today on the basis of an intelligence input. “Cordon was laid and contact established. Firefight ensued and two militants were killed. Operation is in progress,” he said.
A police spokesman in a statement said that on a specific input generated by Kulgam police about presence of militants in village Nipora, Zadoora, Kulgam, a joint cordon and search operation was launched by the police, 19 RR of army and 18 battalion CRPF. “During the search operation, the militants were given an opportunity to surrender, but they refused and fired and lobbed grenades triggering an encounter. In the ensuing encounter, two militants were killed and their bodies retrieved from the site of encounter. Their identification and affiliation is being ascertained,” the statement said.
The statement said that the operation was conducted professionally and there was no collateral damage. “Police request the people not to get closer to the encounter spot till the area is properly sanitized,” the statement said.
In their stepped up anti-militancy operations, this year, the security forces have killed 90 militants so far in various encounters across Jammu and Kashmir.
Since the outbreak of Covid-19 pandemic, 55 militants including top commanders that include Hizbul Mujahideen Chief Commander Reyaz Naikoo, Lashkar-e-Toiba top commander Bashir Koka and Jaish-e-Muhammad’s IED expert Abdur Rehman alias Fouji Bhai, who had participated in the Afghan battle also, were killed in various encounters in Southern belt of Kashmir.
Pertinently, after the outbreak of pandemic, the security agencies stopped handing over the bodies of local militants to their family members for last rites and instead buried them in north Kashmir’s Baramulla district in presence of close relations of the slain. This was, however, to avoid large gatherings at the militant funeral, which according to police officials, was a move aimed to glamourize militants and to attract youth towards militancy