Srinagar
Police on Thursday issued following statement about the Sopore gunfight saying that based on a credible input about the presence of militants in Brath Kalan area of Sopore, a search operation was launched by Police, army, and CRPF jointly in the area on Wednesday evening.
“As the searches were going on, the search party was fired upon by the hiding militants. The fire was retaliated leading to a gunfight,” said police spokesman in a statement.
“In the ensuing encounter, two militants were neutralized and the bodies were retrieved from the site of the encounter,” the spokesman said.
The slain militants have been identified as Owais Ahmad Bhat alias Abu Bakar son of Ghulam Ahmad Bhat resident of Gund Brath Sopore and Tahir Ahmad Dar alias Abu Abdullah son of Mohammad Ramzan Dar resident of Saidpora Sopore. Both were affiliated with militant outfit LeT.
“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.
“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,” a police spokesman in a statement said.
“Citizens are 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 if any,” said police spokesman in a statement.
