KO File Photo
Srinagar- Two militants were killed in an overnight encounter with government forces in the Rainawari area of this capital city, police said on Wednesday. Police said both were local militants associated with the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT).
Acting on a specific input about the presence of militants, a joint cordon and search operation was launched by police, Valley Quick Reaction Team (QRT) and CRPF in the Rainawari area of the city, a police spokesperson said.
As the search party proceeded towards the suspected spot, he said, the hiding militants fired upon the search party which retaliated effectively leading to an encounter.
In the ensuing encounter, the spokesperson said that two LeT militants were killed and their bodies were retrieved from the site of encounter.
Police identified them as Rayees Ahmad Bhat and Hilal Ahmad Rah, both residents of Bijbehara, in Anantnag district.
As per police records, the spokesperson said both the killed militants were categorized and part of groups involved in several “terror crime cases including attacks on Police/SFs and civilian atrocities”.
Giving further details of the killed militants, he said, Rayees Ahmad was earlier working as a journalist and running online news portal ‘Valley News Service’ in Anantnag. Ahmad, he said, had joined militant ranks in year 2021 and was wanted by law in cases related to “terror crime”.
“He was also responsible for creating terror among the locals and had been coercing innocent citizens to sympathise with anti-national elements,” the spokesperson said.
He said that incriminating materials, arms & ammunition were recovered from the site of encounter. All the recovered materials have been taken into case records for further investigation.
“In this regard, a case under relevant sections of law has been registered and investigation has been initiated. People are requested to cooperate with Police till the area at encounter site is completely sanitized and cleared of all the explosive materials, if any,” he added.
The spokesperson also quoted IGP Kashmir, Vijay Kumar as congratulating the forces for carrying out the operation in a professional manner without any collateral damage.
Kumar, he said, shared the details with the media and said the killed militants were planning to attack soft targets in Srinagar & timely action by Police led to the elimination of both of them.
According to the spokesperson, the IGP also said the number of militants operating in Kashmir Valley has fallen as compared to last many years and we are intensifying the operations to make the valley “terror free”.
“He further said that J&K police is trying hard to bring the misguided youth who have joined terrorist ranks back to their normal life with the help of their family members & respectable citizens,” he added.
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