Militant involved in killing of non local among three TRF militants killed in Shopian: Police

SHOPIAN: Police on Tuesday said a militant, who was involved in killing of a non local street vendor from Bihar Virendra Paswan in Srinagar last week, was among three TRF militants killed in an encounter with security forces in south Kashmir’s Shopian district.

A police official said acting on specific information about the presence of militants, a joint operation was launched by police, CRPF and army in Tulran area of Shopian yesterday evening.

“Militants were given the opportunity to surrender as repeated announcements were made by police officers urging the militants to surrender. However, they turned down the offer and fired on the security men,” he said.

The fire was returned by the troops and in the ensuing gunfight three TRF militants were killed.

Inspector General of Police (IGP) Kashmir Vijay Kumar said one of the slain militant has been identified as Mukhtar Shah of Ganderbal.

“He had shifted to Shopian after killing non street vendor Virender Paswan of Bihar in Lal Bazar area of downtown Srinagar on October 5,” he said.

Paswan and two other civilians including prominent Kashmiri Pandit businessman M L Bindroo and sumo driver Mohammad Shafi Lone were shot dead by militants on October 5 in three separate places.  While Paswan and Bindroo were shot dead in Srinagar, Lone was killed in Bandipora.

Police yesterday claimed to have killed a TRF militant Imtiyaz Ahmad Dar involved in the killing of sumo driver. However, the family of the deceased alleged that he was a civilian.