Another scholar, associate killed in Nowgam encounter
Srinagar: Two Hizbul Mujahideen militants, including an M.Phil degree holder, were killed in an encounter with security forces in Nowgam area of the city on Wednesday, police said.
The slain militants have been identified as Sabzar Ahmad Sofi, a PhD scholar who had joined the militant ranks, and Asif Ahmad, the official said.
Sofi, who was pursuing PhD in Botany from Jamia Millia Islamia New Delhi, had joined the militant ranks in the aftermath of killing of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani in July 2016.
He is third highly educated person to have been killed this year after joining militancy.
The 33-year old Sofi also held MSC and B.Ed degrees as well.
Earlier this month, AMU scholar turned militant Manaan Bashir Wani was killed in an encounter with security forces in north Kashmir Kupwara district while an assistant professor from Kashmir University Mohammad Rafi Bhat was killed in a gunfight in Shopian district two days after joining the militant ranks in May this year.
There has been an increasing trend of well educated youth joining militancy in recent years.
EsaFazli, a engineering graduate from Ghulam Shah Badshah University, was killed in a gun battle earlier this year as well.
After Fazli’s joining, an MBA student Junaid Ashraf Sehrai, son of Tehreek-e-Hurriyat Chairman Mohammad Ashraf Sehrai, also disappeared to join the militant groups.
“The standard operating procedures were followed during the operation and there was no collateral damage during the encounter,” the official added.
Acting on a tip off about presence of militants in SuthuKothair locality of Nowgam, security forces launched a cordon and search operation in the early hours, a police official said.
He said the militants opened fire on security forces during the search operation, triggering a gun battle in which two ultras were killed.
Incriminating material besides arms and ammunition were recovered from the encounter site, he added.
Clashes broke out between protestors and security forces soon after the encounter ended, he said, adding the law enforcing agencies were engaged in pitched battles with the stone pelters for most part of the day.
Authorities snapped mobile Internet services in the city and shut educational institutions as a precautionary measure.
Meanwhile, thousands of people participated in the funeral prayers of slain militant at Sangam in southern Kashmir’s Bijbehara area.
Witnesses said that thousands of people converged on the spot near Sangam Bijbehara where the funeral prayers for the slain Hizbul commander was being organised.
The slain militant Sabzar Sofi was buried at his native Sangam village of Bijbehara in south Kashmir.
Reports said that around six militants, including top commander Zeenat ul Islam appeared at the funeral of the slain and offered him a gun salute. The militants also raised pro-freedom and pro-Pakistan slogans during the funeral. The spot, according to the witnessed falls just two kilometers away from the Srinagar-Jammu national huighway.
Notably, Sofi along with an associate identified as Asif Ahmad Shergujri was killed in a gunfight with government forces in Nowgam area on the outskirts of Srinagar city.
KV News
