KL Report
SRINAGAR
The two slain militants Abid Khan and Sheraz Ahmad Dar killed on Tuesday in Tral area south Kashmir’s Pulwama district were locals of the area and were affiliated with Hizb-ul-Mujahideen outfit, local news gatherer GNS said.
Hizb Commander Abid Khan, a resident of Handoora Tral was killed in his house today as he had come to meet his family as well as see his lone and ailing brother, Owais suffering from cancer, it said quoting local residents.
Abid was from well-off family whose father is a police Head Constable while his mother is a government employee. Police sources said Abid Khan joined the outfit in September 2012 and was ‘involved in many militancy related incidents including killings’.
Local sources said he was face of militancy in Tral. Abid’s maternal uncle was a militant and he too was killed by forces. His cousin, Ishfaq Ahmad Khan, was arrested last year when he stabbed a policeman with a sharp edged weapon and tried to snatch his rifle. The policeman was injured in the attack but the assailant was nabbed by cops. The incident had occurred at Drangabl in Pampore town. Police had said Khan was Over Ground Worker (OGW) with Hizb-ul-Mujahideen.
Sheraz Ahmad Dar, before joining militant ranks, was a baker by profession. Hailing from Arigund in Tral, Sheraz joined militancy last year in August after he stole a rifle from his SOG friend, Latif Ahmad Gojri at his family quarters in Tral on August 11.
Local sources said Sheraz joined the militant ranks through his militant friend Aqib of Hayun. Sheraz was married and was a father of one.
An army Colonel, policeman and two Hizb-ul-Mujahideen militants were killed in a fierce gunfight that erupted in Handoora village of Tral on Tuesday afternoon.
After receiving specific input about the presence of militants, army’s 42 Rashtriya Rifles (RR), police’s Special Operation Group (SOG) and 185 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) cordoned off Handoora Village.
Militants, who were in the house of Jalal-ud-Din Khan, a police Head Constable (HC) and father of one of the slain militants, fired upon the search party of forces when they were approaching towards the house.
“There was heavy exchange of fire between the two sides for about ten to twenty minutes,” sources said. The exchange of fire, they said, left army’s Colonel, who was also Commanding Officer (CO) of 42 RR, two soldiers and a Head Constable associated with police’s SOG critically injured.
The injured, including the CO of 42 RR, were immediately airlifted to army’s Srinagar-based 92 Base Hospital at Badami Bagh Cantonment. The defence sources identified the slain Colonel as MN Rai and slain policeman as Sanjeev Singh.His killing is army’s first casualty in 2015 which so far has managed to kill 10 militants in joint operations this year.Col Rai, according to defence sources had lead a number of operations against militants in south Kashmir was awarded a medal only the other day.
