Militant killed, pistol recovered in Pulwama gun-battle

After BDC member, Advocate shot dead

Srinagar: A militant was killed by security forces in an encounter which ensued during a Cordon and Search Operation (CASO) in south Kashmir district of Pulwama on Thursday, police and defence ministry spokespersons said.
Meanwhile hours after BDC member was killed, suspected militants on Thursday shot dead an advocate in Srinagar.
Police spokesperson said the operation concluded without any collateral damage.
He said Thursday noon on a tip-off about the presence of militants, Special Operation Group (SOG) of Jammu and Kashmir police, CRPF and Rashtriya Rifles (RR) launched a CASO at village Machhama, Tral, in Pulwama district this morning.
However, when the security forces were moving towards a particular area in the village, militants hiding there opened fire, he said , adding the firing was retaliated ensuing in an encounter in which an unidentified militant was killed.
Police said slain militant was identified as Irfan Ahmad Dar belonging to Al-Badr.
Defence spokesperson Col Rajesh Kalia said a joint operation was launched Thursday morning based on the inputs by police at Machhama Awantipora in Pulwama.
Area was cordoned off and many announcements were made through public address system to militants to surrender.
But, he said, militants lobbed grenades on Security forces and in return firing was retaliated. A militant was killed, he said.
Col Kalia said one pistol , one magazine and five rounds of ammunition were recovered from the slain militant who was earlier apprehended on August 4 by police for lobbing grenade at naka party at national highway near Charsoo in April 2019. However , he was later released on April 20, 2020 and had gone missing on August 29 and later joined militancy.
Unidentified gunmen fired upon Qadri at his Hawal residence around 6.25 pm from close range before fleeing the spot, a police official said. Qadri was rushed to the SKIMS hospital, where doctors declared him ‘dead on arrival’, the official added.
Qadri, who was in his early 40s, appeared frequently as a panellist on TV debates.
The J&K Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and former chief minister Omar Abdullah have condemned the attack. “The sense of tragedy is all the more because he warned of the threat. Sadly his warning was his last tweet,” Abdullah said.
In his last tweet on September 21, Qadri had urged the police to file an FIR against one Shah Nazir who had accused him of working for agencies and warned him to be “cautious” in TV debates.
“I urge the state Police administration to register FIR against this Shah Nazir who has spread wrong campaign that I work for agencies. This untrue statement can lead to threat to my life,” Qadri had written in his last tweet.
Last night, Bhupinder Singh, a member of the block development council in Khag area of Budgam district, was shot dead by militants at his ancestral village Dalwash.