It was closed-circuit television camera that helped Security Agencies to neutralize two local militants of Hizbul Mujhadeen in North Kashmir on Thursday morning.A grenade was lobbed by a suspected militant outside police station Sopore on Wednesday that left four cops wounded.Police sources revealed that shortly after the incident the CCTV footage was procured and the identity of the grenade thrower was established.“The house of the grenade thrower was raided in the middle of the night and during interrogation, he divulged the information about the presence of two militants present in Nathipora hamlet of the town,” said a police official.As soon as Indian Police came to know about the presence of two local militants in the village, a joint pre-dawn operation was launched that resulted into the killing of both the militants present in the house.Local sources told CNS that during the fierce gunfight between the Government Forces and the militants, two soldiers were wounded and shifted to army hospital. Sources said that militants threw a grenade and opened indiscriminate fire as the Forces approached towards their hiding place, resulting into injuries to two army men.
The joint operation was launched by India’s 22 Rashtriya Rifles, 92, 177 and 179 battalion of Para-military Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF). A police official identified the two slain militants as Aijaz Ahmad Mir of Brath Kalan and Basharat Ahmad Sheikh of Bomai Sopore.He confirmed that mourners in large numbers headed towards the twin native villages of the slain militants. Both the villages are located within a radius of 2 killometres.He said that to stop protests from spreading mobile phone services have been blocked and Colleges and Schools have also been shut down across Sopore. Mobile internet service is already suspended across Kashmir Valley. The suspension came after the killing of Hizb militant commander Sabzar Ahmed Bhat on May 27 last month.Meanwhile, thousands of people, including men and women, attended the last rites of these militants. Witnesses said that men and women despite fasting attended the last rites of both the militants.Mir was laid to rest at his ancestral graveyard in Brath Kalan village amid pro-Islam, pro-azadi and anti-India slogans.The funeral of Basharat was held at Bomai playground, with thousands of people participated in his last rites. Parts of Sopore remained shut to mourn the killings. (CNS)