Government forces on Tuesday killed two foreign militants in Hadoora village of central Kashmir’s Ganderbal district, a police official said.The police official said acting on a tip off, government forces including army and SOG cordoned off Hadoora village during wee hours and launched a search operation as they were suspecting presence of militants. As the searches were underway, the militants hiding in a house opened fire, triggering an encounter.The exchange of fire between the two sides continued for several hours till noon and the forces managed to kill two militants hailing from Pakistan. The militants were identified as Qari Hanzullah and Anas Bilal. According to a police spokesman, both are residents of Pakistan. “02 AK-47 riffles, 01 Grenade, 06 Magazines and 180 rounds were recovered from the encounter site. Both of them were involved in many militancy related activities which included the killing of a civilian Abdul Ahad Dar son of Abdul Gafar Dar resident of Gusoo Zakoora Srinagar on 04.05.2015.
“They were also involved in Fidayeen attack on August 15, 2016 at Nowhatta in which a commandant of CRPF 49 BN namely Pramod Kumar and a police constable of J&K police namely Rouf Ahmad were killed. They were involved in the attack on SSB convoy at Zakoora Srinagar on 14-10-2016 in which one SSB Jawan was killed and seven SSB personnel and a police constable injured,” he said.The police said they were operating in t Srinagar and Ganderbal areas since January 22, 2013 and had recently started coordinating with HM. “These slain militants were transporting newly infiltrated groups from one place to another and were managing safe places and hideouts for them. They were recently directed by mentors in Pakistan to carry out attack on Security forces/ civilians on the eve of forth coming Republic Day celebration 2017 in district Ganderbal and Srinagar,” the police spokesman added. Meanwhile, the killing of two militants triggered protests by locals and they were demanding bodies of both insurgents for funeral and burial. The police however didn’t hand over the bodies to the locals and used teargas canisters against the pro-militant protesters. Sources said that police shelling resulted in minor injuries to two youths. “The situation in the area is under control,” the police sources added.(GNS)