Two militant, who surfaced in recent online videos along with a group headed by Hizb commander Burhan, were killed in an encounter at Manzimpora in south Kashmir’s Shopian district on Thursday evening.Official sources told Srinagar based news agency GNS that army’s 62 RR and SOG launched a joint cordon-and-searches in an apple orchards in the area around 3:45 pm.As the joint team was advancing, they said, the militants hiding inside the dense trees opened fire upon the forces. The forces retaliated, ensuing into a brief gunfight in which two militants identified as Irshad Ahmad and Adil Khanday were killed, they said.Meanwhile, army’s Srinagar based defence ministry official said that the joint team of army and police launched operation following specific inputs about the presence of militants.
A contact was established with the militants and a fierce gun battle ensued near a residential area.The Operation was undertaken by the Army with utmost care to ensure safety to the residents of the area with minimum inconvenience to the local,” he said.The official said that a large quantity of arms, ammunition and other war like stores have been recovered from the slain militants.The operation was still going on in the area, the official said.SP Shopian, Altaf Khan said that two militant bodies have been recovered from the encounter site.He said both the slain were associated with the militant group headed by Burhan and also surfaced in recent videos and photographs released by the outfit. Meanwhile, local sources said that Irshad had joined militant ranks after completing his master’s degree in Arabic. (GNS)