Gunfight: Two local LeT militants, civilian slain in Amshipora Shopian

SHOPIAN — Police on Friday said that two militants and a civilian were killed in a gunfight at Amshipora village of south Kashmir’s Shopian district.

Local sources said that a joint team of forces arrived in the village and cordoned it off. During the search operation, there was an exchange of fire.

Police said, “After a cluster of houses were taken into cordon, following the drill, civilians were evacuated to safety. Thereafter, house to house searches was started in the wee hours to locate the hiding militants.”

During the searches, it said the militants came out and “resorted to indiscriminate firing”. “In the indiscriminate firing of the militants, one civilian namely Shakeel Ahmed Khan son of Abdul Rahim Khan, resident of Amshipora, got seriously wounded. The injured civilian, while being evacuated for medical help, succumbed to the injuries.”

The fire by the militants, police said, was retaliated effectively in which both militants were neutralized.

Police said that arms and ammunition have been recovered from the encounter site while the slain militants are affiliated with the banned outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba.

Police identified the slain militants as Muzamil Ahmad Mir son of Abdul Hameed Mir, resident of Chatripora, Shopian and Shariq Ayub son of Muhammad Ayoob Wagay, resident of Bonpora, Amshipora, Shopian.

Pertinently, in the same Amshipora village, a police officer identified as Shabir Ahmed Wagay was seriously injured after militants fired upon him in the first week of this month.

With the killing of these two militants, the number of militant casualties touched to seven this month. This was the fifth encounter between militants and government forces this month.

In the current month, seven militants, two soldiers, a cop, and a civilian have been killed so far. Militants also carried out two attacks on the joint forces, leaving a policeman dead and another injured.