ANANTNAG — A local commander of Hizb-ul-Mujahideen militant outfit was killed in an overnight encounter that broke out between government forces and militants at Kapran village in Verinag area of Anantnag district in South Kashmir on Friday.
Besides killing of Hizb commander, three army personnel and a civilian were injured during the initial exchange of the fire. They were rushed to 92 Base Army Hospital in Srinagar for treatment and their condition is stated to be stable.
Reports said a joint team of government forces including Indian Army, J&K Police and CRPF had launched Cordon-and-Search-Operation (CASO) at Kapran village in Verinag following the inputs about presence of militants in the area.
They said that as the joint team of forces approached the suspected spot, militants fired upon them which was retaliated, triggering an encounter.
In the encounter, one local militant identified as Hizb-ul-Mujahideen commander Nisar Khanday was killed. Nisar was active since2018.
Incriminating materials, arms and ammunition including 01 AK 47 rifle were recovered from the site of encounter.
As per police records, the killed militant is a categorized militant and was part of the groups involved in several terror cases including attacks on Police/SF and civilian atrocities.
Police in a statement said, “the killed militant was earlier arrested in year 2000 along with arms/ammunition and detained under PSA. Before joining militant ranks in year 2018, the killed militant was working as the militant associate of proscribed militant outfit HM”.
“He has been involved in several killings of civilians and security forces besides mastermind in fresh recruitment of youth in terror rank,” the statement said. — (KIMS)