5 militants killed in Shopian, 2 cases of targeted killings solved: Police

Five terrorists, including the one involved in the recent killing of a non-local street hawker here, were gunned down in two separate encounters with security forces in Jammu and Kashmir’s Shopian district, police said on Tuesday. A police spokesperson said two of the four recent cases of target killings in Srinagar and Bandipora have been solved with the elimination of the terrorists involved in these incidents.

“In the last 24 hours, based on specific inputs about the presence of terrorists in the twin villages of Shopian — Tulran and Feeripora — two anti-terrorist operations were carried out, resulting in the elimination of five ultras. The slain terrorists include Mukhtar Shah, who was involved in the targeted killing of a non-local vendor at the Lal Bazar area of Srinagar,” he said.

According to the spokesperson, acting on specific inputs, the security forces launched cordon-and-search operations in the two villages in south Kashmir.

At Tulran, the terrorists were given repeated opportunities to surrender. However, they fired indiscriminately upon the joint search party, which was retaliated, leading to an encounter, the spokesperson said.