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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