The Jammu and Kashmir Police on Thursday killed two suspected militants in an encounter with security forces in a village in Sopore in the state’s Baramulla district. Arms and ammunition have also been recovered from them, the police added.
Senior Superintendent of Police Javeed Iqbal identified two as Naseer Ahmed Mir and Asif Ahmed War. Two Avtomat Kalashnikova, or AK-47, rifles and six magazines were seized, Iqbal said, according to the GNS news agency.
Mir has been reportedly active since November 17, 2017, and War went missing on February 2, the news agency quoted unidentified officials as saying. A joint team of the Indian Army’s 22 Rashtriya Rifles, the Central Reserve Police Force, and the state police’s Special Operations Group cordoned off Bunpora Mohalla of Dangerpora in Sopore.
The security personnel started a cordon-and-search operation in the area in the morning after allegedly receiving specific inputs about the presence of militants, Kashmir Reader reported. After a siege lasting several hours, the armed forces intensified their search and fired at the location of the suspected militants. The suspected militants then fired back.
“During the search operation, the hiding terrorists fired on the search party,” the police said in a statement, according to ANI. “The fire was retaliated leading to an encounter.” Their bodies have been retrieved from the site.
Internet services were suspended in Sopore town. Colleges and higher secondary schools in Sopore and the Zaingeer belt were instructed to remain shut, said Additional Deputy Commissioner of Sopore Ashiq Hussain Lily.
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