Srinagar
The Jammu and Kashmir police on Thursday issued a statement after two militants were killed in a gunfight in Pulwama village of south Kashmir.
“Based on a credible input about the presence of militants in Sharshali area of Khrew in Awantipora, a cordon and search operation was launched swiftly at predawn hours today jointly by Police and security forces in the area,” said police spokesman in a statement.
“As the searches were going on, the search party was fired upon by the militants. The fire was retaliated leading to a gunfight,” he said.
“In the ensuing encounter, two militants were killed and the bodies were retrieved from the site of the encounter,” the spokesman said.
The spokesman said that the slain militants have been identified as Adnan Ahmad Lone alias Uqaab son of Ghulam Mohammad Lone resident of Braw Bandina, Awantipora and Adil Bilal Bhat alias Umair Al Hizbi son of Bilal Ahmad Bhat resident of Malangpora, Pulwama. Both were affiliated with proscribed militant outfit HM. As per police records, Adnan Lone was known as district commander of Pulwama for HM.
“Both the militants were wanted by the law for their complicity in a series of crimes including the attack on security establishments and civilian atrocities,” the spokesman said.
“Adnan Lone as per Police records was one of the top commanders of HM and had a long history of terror crime records since 2015. He was a close associate of militant commander Reyaz Naikoo and had escaped from encounter site at Srinagar earlier. Several terror cases were registered against him,” he said.
“Similarly Adil Bhat being a close associate of Reyaz Naikoo was also involved in several crimes. Among several other offences he also figured in the killing of HC Ashiq Hussain at Awantipora in October 2017,” said police spokesman.
“Pertinently, no collateral damage took place during the encounter,” he added.
“Huge quantity of arms & ammunition including rifles were recovered from the site of encounter. All these materials have been taken in the case records for further investigation and probe their complicity in other terror cases,” the spokesman said.
“Citizens are once again requested not to venture inside the encounter zone since such an area can prove dangerous due to stray explosive materials. People are requested to cooperate with police till the area is completely sanitized and cleared of all the explosives materials,” said police spokesman.
