8 Terrorists Killed In Twin Encounters In South Kashmir; 120 Eliminated Since January

A total of 8 militants have been gunned down in Pampore and Shopian where two parallel encounters broke out on Thursday and continued till Friday.

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New Delhi: Militant groups in the Valley suffered a major setback as 8 militants were killed in counter-insurgency operations in two different areas in South Kashmir taking the toll of militants to 34 in the 19 days of June.

The gunfights had raged yesterday in Pampore and Shopian areas since yesterday, and today both these operations ended with killing 8 militants in twin encounters.

Two of the dead militants were holed up inside a mosque in the Awantipore area and were killed in commando action by J&K police. Yesterday one militant each was killed in Meej Pampore and Bandapawa Shopian, and both continued for over 30 hours.

Sources said that 3 militants killed in Pampore are affiliated with Jaish-e-Muhammad while in Shopian five militants killed were associated with Lashkar-e-Taiba and Hizbul Mujahideen. However, police have not released any identities of slain militants nor their affiliations till now.

In Meej Pampore, a militant was killed yesterday but the remaining two militants had taken shelter in a mosque. "Patience & professionalism worked. No use of firing & IED. Used tear smoke shells only. Maintained sanctity of the mosque. Both militants hiding inside the mosque were killed: IGP Kashmir Vijay Kumar tweeted.

 Both the operations were conducted without any collateral damage, however, internet and mobile telephone services in both areas have been snapped.

With these killings, a total of 120 militants have been killed in J&K since January 2020, with April being the bloodiest till now with 29 militants being neutralized in a month. While 22 were killed in January, 11 in February, 9 in March and 15 in May including top commanders of Lashkar, Jaish, Hizb, and Ansar Gazwatul Hind.  

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