Lady school teacher killer among 4 militants killed in Kashmir gunfights

JJ CORRESPONDENT

Srinagar, June 16: Security forces shot dead four militants, including the alleged killer of a lady school teacher in two different encounters in Kashmir on Thursday, officials said.
The two Hizbul Mujahideen militants including, the suspect behind the school teacher Rajni Bala murder were killed during the third day of an anti militancy operation in the Mishipora area of Kulgam.
The searches in the village had begun on June 14 and there were at least two brief contacts between the forces and the militants during the past three days.
Police said a fresh contact was established this afternoon in which two militants were killed.
“On June 14, as the joint party proceeded towards the suspected spot the hiding terrorists fired indiscriminately upon the search party which was retaliated effectively by the joint forces. However, the hiding terrorists managed to shift their base consistently in the village after the initial exchange of fire and tried to breach the cordon but the cordon remained firmly intact. Today, the contact was re-established and two terrorists of HM outfit were killed so far,” a police spokesman said .
He identified one of the slain as Zubair Sofi of Mohan Pora Kulgam.
“He was involved in the killing of woman teacher Rajni Bala on May 31,” the spokesman said, adding the identification of a second militant is being ascertained.
The operation is still in progress.
Rajini Bala, a teacher in the Gopalpora area of Kulgam, was killed outside the government high school in Gopalpora on May 31. Her death took place amid a series of targeted civilian killings in Jammu and Kashmir last month.
A militant was killed during another ongoing gun battle in Jammu and Kashmir’s Anantnag district, officials said. One more militant was killed taking the toll to 2, police said and added searches in the area are going on.
The slain militants have been identified as Junaid Bhat and Basit Wani affiliated with Hizbul Mujahideen terror outfit, Inspector General of Police Vijay Kumar said and added Basit was involved in killings of BJP’s Sarpanch Ghulam Rasool Dar and his wife, a panch on August 9, 2021 in Anantnag.
They said the fighting broke out at Hangalgund area during a cordon and a search operation.
Security forces averted a major tragedy by recovering 15 Kilos IED in a village in district Pulwama and arrested two militant associates involved in the case.
Police said acting on a specific input regarding planting of an IED, Pulwama police and security forces recovered 15 Kg IED in village Armullah Litter and thereby averted a possible major tragedy. Police said the IED was hidden in a pressure cooker.
Police said two militant associates identified as Mohammad Younis Mir and Jan Mohammad Ganie, both residents of village Armullah Pulwama were arrested in the case. UNI