Two militants killed in Sopore; local arrested over Reasi attack

Two unidentified militants were killed and two security personnel were injured in a gunfight in north Kashmir’s Sopore on June 19.

In a related development, the Jammu and Kashmir Police claimed a major breakthrough in the Reasi attack, which left nine pilgrims dead on June 9, with the arrest of a local who allegedly “provided logistics support to militants”.

An Army spokesman said the security forces, including the J&K Police and the Army, launched an anti-militancy operation in Sopore following “specific intelligence input regarding the presence of terrorists”.

The militants were encircled and engaged in a gunfight in the Hadipora area. “Two terrorists have been killed in the encounter. Incriminating materials, arms and ammunition were recovered,” the police said.

Security agencies said they were in the process of identifying the militants and their affiliation.

Two security personnel, an Army jawan and a policeman, were injured in the gunfight. The condition of the injured was said to be stable.

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Earlier in the day, educational institutes in Hadipora area were closed in the wake of the ongoing operation.

It is the second encounter with militants in north Kashmir in the past three days. A local militant, Zakir Hamid Mir, active since 2018, was killed in an encounter in Bandipora on Monday. Mir was working at the behest of a Pakistan-based handler, Zahoor Ahmad Mir, the security agencies said.

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Reasi breakthrough

The J&K Police said it has arrested an overground worker who provided logistic support to the militants in the Reasi attack. He has been categorised as a ‘militant associate’ and has been identified as Hakam Din, 40, a resident of Bandhrahi, Rajouri.

“Hakam Din acted as a guide, took the terrorists to the spot through the forests and managed to take them back through the similar route,” Mohita Sharma, Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), Reasi, said.

“A day before the attack, the terrorists had stayed at Din’s home in Badhrahi and were provided with food and shelter. All the three terrorists had stayed at Din’s house three times (in the past),” Ms. Sharma said.

Cash amounting to ₹6,000 was recovered from Mr. Din. Around 150 locals have been questioned by the police since June 9 in and around the attack site.

Three Pakistani terrorists were part of the attack but police had no prior information about this, Ms. Sharma said. However, there was a general alert in the backdrop of the swearing-in ceremony of the Prime Minister in New Delhi. ”The case is still under investigation,” Ms. Sharma said. “Security has been improved and people are advised to take the pilgrimage like they were doing before,” she said.

In a separate case, a local, who fled with a service rifle of a police officer on Tuesday was arrested in the Chenab Valley’s Doda on Wednesday. The J&K Police and the Army’s 4 Rashtriya Rifles “successfully apprehended the individual responsible for snatching a service weapon from a police personnel within 24 hours”, a police spokesman said.

According to police, the accused, Mohammad Rafi, a resident of Trown Tehsil Bhall, Doda, forcibly took the weapon. “The accused was tracked down and arrested from a forest in the higher reaches of Trown area,” the police said.