4 terrorists killed in twin gunfights in Shopian

Srinagar, Oct 05: Four local terrorists were killed in twin encounters with security forces in Shopian district of southern Kashmir on Wednesday, police said.
The slain were identified by Police as Zubair Maqbool Wani resident of Doompora Keegam, Jamsheed Ahmad Magray resident of Rajpora and Hanaan Bin Yaqoob @ Saqib resident of Kareemabad Pulwama.
Police said three terrorists were killed in a gunfight in the Drach area of Shopian, while another was shot dead in Moolu area of district.
Additional Director General of Police (ADGP) Vijay Kumar claimed that terrorists killed in Drach area were associated Jaish-e-Mohammed terror outfit. They have been identified as Hanan Bin Yaqoob, Jamshed and Zubair Maqbool Wani , he said.
Kumar added that the terrorists were involved in the killings of police officer Javid Ahmad Dar on Sunday and a labourer from West Bengal in September 2022.
In another encounter in Moolu area of the district, another terrorist was killed. He was been identified as Arif Rashid Wani resident of Shirmal and was linked with the Lasker-e-Taiba terror outfit.
A police spokesman said on Tuesday evening, Police along with Army (44RR) and CRPF (14 Bn) launched a joint cordon and search operation in village Drach Keegam area of Shopian following input about presence of terrorists in area.
“As the joint search party proceeded towards the suspected spot the hiding terrorists fired indiscriminately upon the search party. The joint party retaliated effectively leading to an encounter,” he said.
The spokesman said in the ensuing encounter, 3 local terrorists linked with proscribed terror outfit JeM were killed and their bodies were recovered from the site of encounter.
As per police records, slain were categorized terrorists and were involved in several terror crime cases including attacks on Police, security forces and civilian killings.
“Terrorists Hanan Bin Yaqoob and Jamsheed were involved in the recent killing of SPO Javed Dar on October 02 at Pinglana area of Pulwama and behind the killing of outside labourer from West Bengal in Gadoora,” he said.
As per Police, terrorist Jamshed was involved in Ratnipora terror attack where he shot and injured two outside labourers.
Meanwhile in the second encounter, following inputs, police along with Army (44 RR) and CRPF (178 Bn) launched a joint cordon and search operation in Moolu area of Shopian,
“During the gunfight, one local terrorist was killed. He was identified as Arif Rashid Wani, resident of Shirmal,” police spokesman said.
As per Police records, Wani was a categorised terrorist linked with the proscribed terror outfit LeT.
He was involved in several terror crime cases including attacks on Police and security forces.
“Arms and ammunition including 04 AK series rifles, 01 Pistol, 08 AK magazines, 04 Pistol magazines and other incriminating materials were recovered from both the encounter sites,” the spokesman said.
Police said all the recovered materials have been taken into case records for further investigation.