1st LD Writethru: Top commander among 6 killed in Indian-controlled Kashmir gunfight
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E-mail Xinhua, November 23, 2018
SRINAGAR, Indian-controlled Kashmir, Nov. 23 (Xinhua) -- Six militants including top commander of Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) militant outfit were killed Friday in a predawn fierce gunfight in restive Indian-controlled Kashmir, police said.
The gunfight erupted early Friday at village Sutkipora of Bijbehara in Anantnag district, about 48 km south of Srinagar city, the summer capital of Indian-controlled Kashmir.
Police have identified the slain six as local cadres of LeT.
"The slain militants were identified as Azad Malik, Unais Shafi, Shahid Bashir, Basit Ishtiyaq, Aqib Najar and Firdous Najar," a police official said.
According to police the militants were killed inside a hideout.
"A cordon and search operation was launched jointly by police and army on specific intelligence information suggesting presence of militants," the police official said.
"As the searches were going on the search party was fired upon by the militants, which was retaliated, leading to a gunfight in which ended with the killing of six militants."
Indian army or police have not suffered any damage in the stand-off.
Police had claimed that Malik was among the three militants involved in assassination of senior journalist and editor of Rising Kashmir Syed Shujaat Bukhari in Srinagar.
Bukhari and his two guards were killed after masked gunmen indiscriminately fired upon them outside Rising Kashmir office in Srinagar's Press Enclave on June 14.
Reports pouring in from Anantnag said the bodies of militants were handed over to their families for burial.
No sooner the news about militant killings spread, a spontaneous shutdown was observed in the district.
Local youth at several places threw stones and brickbats at government forces shouting pro-freedom and anti-India slogans. Authorities have suspended mobile internet services, fearing it would intensify anti-India protests.
The local administration have also suspended domestic train service in the region in wake of the killing of six militants.
On Tuesday four militants and a para army commando were killed while two troopers wounded in a similar gunfight in adjacent Shopian district.
A guerilla war is going on between militants and Indian troopers stationed in the region since 1989.
Kashmir, the Himalayan region divided between India and Pakistan, is claimed by both in full. Since their independence from Britain, the two countries have fought three wars, two exclusively over Kashmir. Enditem
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