Srinagar
Police on Monday claimed to have killed three militants in an overnight gunfight at Hakoora area of south Kashmir’s Islamabad district.
Official sources said that a joint team of SOG, army, and CRPF launched a cordon-and-search operation at Hakoora village last night at around 12:30 am.
Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Islamabad Altaf Khan said that the operation was launched based on the specific inputs about the presence of some militants inside a residential house.
As the searches were intensified, some warning shots were fired towards the suspected spot, the group of militants comprising of three members tried to break the cordon and opened fire upon the joint team, SSP said.
The fire was responded triggering off a brief exchange of the gunfight, SSP said, adding that the trio was killed in the retaliatory action.
“The bodies of the trio were recovered along with as many assault rifles,” he said, adding that the deceased belonged to Tehreek-ul-Mujahideen (TuM) militant outfit
The officer identified two among the three slain militants as Essa of Soura Srinagar and Owais Ahmad of Kokernag. “The identity of the third militant is yet to be ascertained and is believed to be a foreigner”. (GNS
