Two local JeM militants killed in Kulgam

KULGAM — Two local Jaish-e-Muhammad (JeM) militants were killed in an encounter in Ahwatoo village of south Kashmir’s Kulgam district on Tuesday evening.

An official told the news agency KNO that an encounter broke out in Ahwatoo village, in which two militants were trapped. He said that in the ensuing encounter, both the militants belonging to the JeM outfit were killed and the operation was over.

Meanwhile, Kashmir Zone Police on its official Twitter handle identified the slain militants as Mohammad Shafi and Mohammad Asif—both residents of Kulgam district. 

“The killed two categorised JeM terrorists have been identified as Mohammad Shafi Ganie of Batpora, Kulgam and Mohammad Asif Wani alias Yawar of Takia Gopalpora, Kulgam. Two AK-47 rifles, ammunition recovered,” a police spokesman tweeted.

Notably, this was the second such encounter in the last 24 hours in the Kulgam district.

On Monday evening, a Pakistani militant identified as Hurairah was killed in an encounter in Batpora area of Kulgam district. A soldier and two civilians were also injured in the encounter.

Official figures available with the KNO suggest that seven militants were killed in the ensuing month so far in southern districts of Kashmir in five encounters. Data suggests that this year, 142 militants have been killed so far of which 34 were foreigners.