Conflict

Two militants killed in a gunfight with the Indian armed forces in Kulgam

Srinagar: Two militants were killed in a brief shootout with the Indian Armed Forces in Kulgam district of south Kashmir late Wednesday night.

The slain militants have been identified as Aaqib Itoo of Gopalpora, and Suhail Ahmad Rather of Yaripora Kulgam, both of them belonging to the militant outfit Hizb-ul-Mujahideen.

Hizb-ul-Mujahideen was founded by Muhammad Ahsan Dar in September 1989, and is a Kashmiri anti-India resistace and designated Islamic group. It is designated a terrorist organisation by India. It has been active in the state of Jammu and Kashmir since 1989. The current commander of the group is a Sayeed Salahudeen.
Holding a radical Islamic and pro-Pakistan ideology, the group is considered to be the largest indigenous militant group in Kashmir. In 1990 Muhammad Ahsan Dar had more than 10,000 armed men under his command.

According to a report in Greater Kashmir, a newspaper published in Srinagar, an official said that 9 RR of army and Special Operations Group (SOG) of Jammu and Kashmir Police laid an ambush in Gopalpora village of Damhal Hanjipora after inputs about the movement of militants in the area were received.

He said a fierce, but brief gunfight erupted after the Indian Armed Forces challenged the militants. “Two militants were killed in the operation,” he said.

“Two weapons have been recovered from the slain militants,” a police officer said, in a report in Kashmir Life, a weekly magazine based in Srinagar, adding that one of the slain militants was allegedly involved in the killing of 5 policemen and a bank guard in an attack on a bank Van.

Two AK-47 rifles were recovered from the slain militants. Their identity was not immediately known, the report added.

Meanwhile, authorities have reportedly again suspended the mobile Internet services in south Kashmir.

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