Five Islamic militants were killed in a fierce gunfight with security forces in Prang hilly quarters in Jammu and Kashmir’s Ganderbal district on Friday. The security forces did not suffer any casualties, officials said terming the slain militants as “dreaded” and their killing as a “major breakthrough” against the separatists.
The police and the Army said a joint operation was launched against the militants hiding in the Najwan forest area of Prang, 35-km north of Srinagar, at midnight on Thursday night after receiving a specific input. The operation party comprising soldiers from Army’s 3 Rashtriya Rifles and members of Jammu and Kashmir police’s counterinsurgency Special Operations Groups (SOG) was fired upon by the militants, they said adding the fire was returned killing all five foreign militants. The police has identified them as Qari Assadullah , Zubair , Javied , Fazal and Umar-all belonging to Assadullah group of Hizb-ul-Mujahideen outfit. Their bodies were later handed over to the residents of a neighbouring village for burial.
Five AK-47 assault rifles and five pouches with AK magazines were found on the slain militants, police said. A defence spokesperson here added the dead included a district commander of the Hizb, Assadullah, believed to be active in Ganderbal district for the past seven years. He also said that the fighting between the two sides broke out at about 1.30 am on Friday. “On being challenged by the troops, terrorists fired back. A heavy firefight ensued, lasting for over two hours,” the spokesperson said.
The Army also said that in spite of difficult terrain and poor visibility conditions, accurate fire was brought down on the militants resulting into their killing. “The operation was surgically conducted without any collateral damage or casualty to own forces,” it said. Army said seven grenades and other equivalents were also recovered.