A militant from Srinagar, who was involved in the recent civilian killings, has been neutralised in an encounter in south Kashmir’s Pulwama district, Inspector General of Police (IGP), Kashmir Zone, Vijay Kumar said on Friday.
"Killed #militant has been identified as Shahid Basir Sheikh of #Srinagar. He was involved in the recent #killing of # civilians (Mohd Safi Dar, PDD Deptt’s staff) on 2/10/21. An AK 47 rifle was used in his killing. One AK rifle along with Mag/Amn recovered','' the police said in a tweet.
The encounter took place after Army’s 50 RR and police’s special operation group (SOG) and CRPF launched a cordon and search operation at Wahibugh area of Pulwama after receiving information about the presence of militants in the area.
Kashmir has been in shock after five civilians, including three members of the Kashmiri Pandit, a Sikh community member and a labourer from Bihar, were shot dead by The Resistance Front (TRF), a group that police say is Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) in disguise, on October 5 and 7.
Those murdered included M.L. Bindroo, a Kashmiri Pandit and owner of Srinagar’s leading pharmacy at Haft Chinar in Srinagar, Supinder Kour, a Sikh who was the principal of government higher secondary school in Eigah area of Srinagar, and her colleague, Deepak Chand, who hailed from Jammu. Chand was appointed in the education department under the PM's employment package for migrant Pandits. The labourer from Bihar was identified as Virender Paswan, a street vendor. He was shot dead at Lal Bazar in downtown Srinagar.
The killings created panic among minorities and non-locals in Kashmir, and seven Kashmiri Pandit families migrated temporarily to Jammu. Some migrant Pandits working in Kashmir also fled Kashmir after the killings.
