Two LeT militants killed in Pulwama encounter

Ahmed Ali Fayyaz

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SRINAGAR, Aug 6: At least two militants of Lashkar-r-Tayyiba are believed to have died in a fierce encounter with Police and security forces in Kakapora village of Pulwama district in South Kashmir on Thursday.
Informed sources told STATE TIMES that troops of Rashtriya Rifles 50^th Bn, CRPF and a unit of Special Operations Group of Pulwama District Police launched a cordon-and-search operation on the basis of a tip off which indicated presence of two militants at a hideout.

According to the tip off, the LeT militant Mohammad Afzal Shah alias Talib had reached a neighbour’s house for the purpose of meeting his family members.

Sources said that the holed up militant opened fire and made unsuccessful attempts to escape as they found themselves under cordon. However, in the gunbattle, troops shot dead Afzal alias Talib who had joined militancy after completing his Masters in Physical Education in a University in Maharashtra.

DIG South Kashmir Nitish Kumar said that the residents of Kakapora were more or less calm but those from the neighbouring villages of Lelhar and Sambora trooped into the village and resorted to stone pelting on Police and armed forces to fail their operation. “We tackled the situation effectively while facing stone pelting till late in the night. Troops have destroyed the target house and killed the second holed up militant. But it is possible that total of three militants have died”, DIG Kumar told STATE TIMES from the site of encounter.

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