A militant of the Islamic State Jammu Kashmir (ISJK) was killed in an early morning gunfight with security forces in Shopian district of south Kashmir on Friday.

The slain militant was identified as Ishfaq Ahmad Sofi, alias Umer, a resident of Sopore town in north Kashmir’s Baramulla district.

Sofi, as per the police, was a member of the militant outfit Harkat-ul-Mujahideen.

“He was arrested and released in early 2018 on bail. He, however, took to arms again and joined the ISJK this time around,” a senior police officer said.

The police maintained that Sofi and his associates were involved in a series of crimes, including grenade attacks, on a CRPF bunker at Safa Kadal, Soura and the Khanyar police station.

He was also part of groups which had carried out attacks on security establishments in the area,” a police spokesperson said. The gunfight on Friday took place in the Ramnagri-Amshipora area of south Kashmir’s Shopian district around 6.30 am.

“There were specific inputs regarding the presence of militants in the area. The area was cordoned off and soon after, the hiding militant opened fire,” the police official said. He said the fire was retaliated and the militant was killed.

The police retrieved arms and ammunition and some incriminating material from the site, the official said. It was a clean operation without any collateral damage, the police said.

Later, after identification and medico-legal formalities, the body was handed over to the militant’s family. The authorities snapped the Internet services in the Sopore area and ordered the closure of schools and colleges.

Five youths injured in clashes near Jamia Masjid

Srinagar: Five youths were injured in clashes that erupted in the Nowhatta area of the old city after the Friday prayers, eyewitnesses said. The clashes took place soon after the Friday prayers at Jamia Masjid when masked youths raised pro-freedom slogans and threw stones at security forces deployed outside the mosque. Security personnel fired pellets and tear-smoke shells to disperse the protesters. “In the clashes, five youths were injured,” locals said. The clashes, which continued for almost an hour, created panic as many worshippers, including women, were stuck inside the mosque. Eyewitnesses said the locals stuck inside the mosque requested the youths to stop stone-throwing so that they could move out. After almost an hour, the worshipers were able to leave the mosque. TNS

Courtesy:The Tribune,May 11 2019