Imtiyaz Shah, the chief of the Ansar Gazwatul Hind (AGH), was among seven militants killed in two separate encounters in South Kashmir’s Shopian and Pulwama districts on Friday, according to the Jammu and Kashmir Police.
According to IGP Kashmir Vijay Kumar, two militants, including Imtiyaz Shah, escaped from the Shopian fight site after hurling grenades during the subsequent cordon and were killed in a separate encounter in Tral’s Nowbugh area in south Kashmir’s Pulwama district.
KUmar stated that the Shopian operation was difficult because militants sought refuge in a nearby masjid.
The militants were given ample opportunity to surrender, but they refused, resulting in their deaths in the encounter.
Lieutenant General D P Pandey, the General Officer Commanding (GoC) of the 15 Corps based in Srinagar, stated that the army is implementing a two-pronged strategy in Kashmir to prevent local militant recruitment as well as to squeeze the network of Over Ground Workers and end radicalization.
He stated that anyone who picks up weapons against the state will not be let off the hook. Local militants will be given the option of surrendering, but if they do not, they will be killed.
According to the IGP, all SoPs were followed during the Shopian operation. Family members of the militants were summoned to the local Imam Masjid where the militants were hiding in order to persuade them to surrender; however, they refused, and five militants were killed in the ensuing gunfight—two from Hizbul Mujahideen, one from LeT, and two from AGH.
According to the IGP, they recovered seven AK rifles and two pistols from the militants.
The militants killed in the Shopian encounter were identified as Muzamil Tantry, Adil Lone, Younis Ahmed Khanday, and Basit Bhat by the IGP.
They all joined the militancy in different months last year. According to the IGP, one of the slain militants in the Tral gunfight was Imtiyaz Shah, the chief of AGH, who was acting.
