Srinagar: In a major success for security forces, five Hizbul Mujahideen militants including a top commander and a fresh recruit – a university professor – were killed in an encounter in Shopian district of Jammu and Kashmir Sunday, police said.
The encounter in south Kashmir broke out after security forces launched cordon and search operation in Badigam village in Zainapora area of the south Kashmir district following specific information about the presence of militants in the area.
“During the encounter at Badigam village in Shopian, five terrorists of outlawed Hizbul Mujahideen (HM) were neutralized,” a police spokesman said here.
The spokesman said the identities of the slain militants are being ascertained.
Sunday’s success comes less than 24 hours after security forces killed three militants in a gunbattle in Chattabal area in the heart of the city Saturday.
Official sources said top Hizbul Mujahideen commander Saddam Padder and a Kashmir University assistant professor Mohammad Rafi Bhat are among the slain militants.
The other militants killed in the gunbattle are Tauseef Shiekh, Aadil Malik and Bilal alias Molvi, all residents of south Kashmir.
Two police officials and an Army personnel also suffered minor injuries during the gunbattle, a police official said. He said incriminating material, including arms and ammunition, have been recovered from the encounter site.
Mobile Internet services have been suspended in south Kashmir districts and Ganderbal in central Kashmir, while the facility remained barred in Srinagar for the second consecutive day Sunday.
Five civilians were also killed Sunday in clashes with security forces after five militants were killed in a gunfight in Jammu and Kashmir’s Shopian district.
Police sources said a protesting civilian, Adil Ahmad, injured during the clashes was declared dead on arrival by doctors at the Kulgam district hospital. Reports from the area said Adil was injured in Behibagh village in Kulgam district.
Three other civilians, Sajad Ahmad of Dooru in Anantnag district, Zubair Ahmad of Pulwama and Yasir Ahmad of Shopian, also succumbed to their injuries. Earlier, Asif Ahmad of Rohmou village of Pulwama died in a Srinagar hospital due to injuries suffered in the clashes. Over a dozen civilians were injured in the clashes between the protesters and the security forces.
A mob torched two fire tenders during the protests. – Agencies