People in large numbers are visiting the families of the three slain youth in Shopian and Pulwama Districts who were killed during an encounter with Government Forces on Wednesday in Srinagar’s Lawaypora area.
Locals told The dark press that women and men, in large queues despite restrictions are visiting the families of the slain Zubair Ahmad Lone in the Turkawangam area of Shopian, Ajaz Maqbool Ganai in Putrigam and Athar Mushtaq in Bellow of Pulwama.
The businesses in the two districts of South Kashmir are observing a complete shutdown, while traffic is heavily off the roads, The Awantipora is also observing a complete shutdown against the killings.
Addressing a joint press conference at 2 RR headquarters at Zainakote, HMT, Srinagar, GoC Kilo Force Sahi said that in the past one week, five militants including a Pakistani national were killed in two separate gunfights in north Kashmir.
For the past many days, intelligence inputs were coming continuously about the movement of militants on the Srinagar-Baramulla highway. Yesterday, we developed leads and came to know that militants are hiding in a house right opposite Noora hospital at Lawaypora in the HMT area, Sahi said.
The militants fired indiscriminately at security forces and lobbed grenades as well. The operation was put to a halt due to dark but cordon layers were tightened. With the break of dawn, the encounter resumed once again and militants used heavy ammunition against security forces, the GoC said, adding that in the ensuing gunfight three militants were killed.
One AK 47 and two pistols were recovered from the possession of the slain Militants, officials said.
The Officials had earlier said that one top commander of Militants was trapped at the site of the encounter and later identified the trio as part of Al Badr Militant outfit.
Messages are being circulated on Social media from Militant outfits that the trio is not a part of any of the Militant outfits in the Kashmir valley, however, the authenticity of the messages could not be verified.
Sources meanwhile told The dark press that the operation was conducted on an input received by the Indian Army. “It was an input received by Army on their own,” the Source said, adding that the families of the trio have identified the bodies and they are being buried hundreds of Kilometers away from home in Ganderbal Kashmir.
They said that the trio has no case of stone-throwing or Militancy related activities registered against them. “None of the families had filed any missing report,” the Sources revealed to The dark press.
However, the families of three killed militants have denied the claim of the forces and are demanding the return of their children’s dead bodies.
As a precautionary measure, the authorities have snapped the internet in Pulwama and Shopian districts of South Kashmir.