The slain militants have been identified as Shahbaz Shafi Wani alias Rayees Kachru and Farooq Gura
Hizb-ul-Mujahideen (HuM) suffered a major setback when the Jammu and Kashmir police killed two of its commanders who made an abortive bid on the lives of top police officers in Pulwama district in poll-bound south Kashmir on Sunday.
The incident occurred in the afternoon when three officers – Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Awantipora Zahid Malik, Superintendent of Police (SP) Pulwama Rayees Mohammad Bhat and Additional Superintendent of Police (ASP) Pulwama Chandan Kohli – were on their way to Awantipora when car-borne militants ambushed them at the Padgampora village.
The officers and the men escorting the convoy immediately swung into action and fired in retaliation, killing two local HuM militants on the spot. Sources said that another militant travelling in the car escaped under the cover of firing.
"SSP Awantipora, ASP Pulwama and I were going to Awantipora when militants came from the opposite direction in a vehicle and fired on us. In the retaliatory firing, they got killed", the Pulwama SP told DNA.
Police suspect that it was a premeditated attack by the militants. "It seems that it was premeditated. But the brave officers and their men repulsed the attack and killed two militants," said an officer.
The slain militants have been identified as Shahbaz Shafi Wani alias Rayees Kachru and Farooq Gura. Kachru had joined militancy last year. An AK-47 rifle and a Self Loading Rifle (SLR) were recovered from the slain militants. The SLR is the same weapon, which was looted by militants from the cops guarding the minority village of Tumulhal on October 8, 2016.
"The IPS officers while on their way to Awantipur were ambushed by terrorists. The daring officers' retaliatory firing killed both the terrorists," tweeted Shesh Paul Vaid, Director General of Police, Jammu and Kashmir.
The attack comes at a time when security has been beefed up in Kashmir for the parliamentary bypolls for Srinagar and Anantnag on April 9 and 12, respectively.
Spanning over four districts and comprising 16 Assembly constituencies, Anantnag parliamentary seat vacant after Mehbooba Mufti became the Chief Minister. Pulwama is part of the constituency.
The Srinagar parliamentary seat fell vacant after former PDP leader Tariq Hamid Karra quit in protest against the civilian killings in the summer unrest of 2016.
Around 27 lakh voters, including 75,000 migrant voters, will exercise their franchise during the bypolls.
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