Four militants killed, missing panch’s body found in J&K

The slain militants belonged to the Al badr militant outfit.

Image used for representation purpose.

Four militants, including an Al-Badr militant behind the killing of a grass roots representative whose body was recovered earlier in the day, were killed in an encounter in south Kashmir’s Shopian on Friday.

“Four to five terrorists were engaged in an encounter in an orchard in Kiloora area. The hiding militants opened fire when the security forces cordoned the area and started a search operation. Later, four terrorists were killed and one was captured alive”, Inspector General of Police (IGP) Vijay Kumar said.

It was a difficult task to make the militant surrender in a live encounter. “We appeal to all parents of the militants to convince their wards to surrender”, Mr. Kumar said.

The police identified the two slain militants as Shakoor Parray, an Al Badr ‘district commander’, and Suhail Bhat.

“Bhat was behind the abduction and killing of a panch [grass roots representative] Nisar Ahmad Bhat”, Mr. Kumar said.

Ex-SPO

 Parray had fled with service rifles in Awantipora where he worked as a Special Police Officer (SPO) before joining the militancy and had managed to recruit around 10 youth to resurrect Al-Badr, police said.

Mr. Kumar said, “Efforts are on to nab the remaining militants”.

Two AK rifles and three pistols were recovered from the encounter site, police said.

Earlier in the day, the police spotted the body of Nisar Ahmed Bhat, from the orchards of Dangam. “The panch had gone to meet Abdul Rashid Bhat, father of militant Suhail Ahmed Bhat, of Muradpora at 1 p.m. on August 19 when he went missing”, the police said.

The panch was an ex-policeman, a former terrorist and was booked under the Public Safety Act (PSA) earlier. “There were 12 FIRs against him”, police sources said.

Weapon snatching foiled

One youth was held in Srinagar old city when he tried to snatch a weapon from a CRPF jawan.

An official identified the youth as Tehreen Shabir Dar, 28, a resident of Srinagar.

“The youth tried to snatch a weapon from Head Constable Samrinder but was overpowered by the police and the CRPF personnel present there”, an official said.

CRPF spokesman Pankaj Singh said the CRPF men “acted professionally and apprehended him”.