NEW DELHI, Nov 15: Two unidentified terrorists were killed in an encounter with the security forces in Srinagar’s Hyderpora locality while three terrorists of the National Socialist Council of Nagaland were killed in exchange of fire with Assam Rifles personnel in Arunachal Pradesh on Monday.
According to the Jammu and Kashmir police, the encounter in Hyderpora started at around 6.30pm and the tweet regarding the killing of the first terrorist came in at 6.35pm, while that of the second terrorist arrived at 8.25pm. “Further details shall follow,” the police added in its latest tweet.
The encounter followed arrest on November 12 of two persons identified as Rashid Muzaffar Ganaie and Nasir Mir by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in connection with the recent attacks on civilians and police personnel in the Valley. Both terrorists hail from Jammu and Kashmir’s Sopore town.
In a statement, the central agency said as per preliminary probe, both accused are “terror associates” of different organisations and have been providing “logistical and material support” to terrorists. The NIA has so far arrested as many as 27 people in connection to the killing of at least 11 migrants and security personnel in Jammu and Kashmir.
A spate of civilian killings has been plaguing the Valley since last month. To add to it, a constable named Tawseef Ahmad Wani (29) and salesman Ibrahim Khan were gunned down by terrorists on November 7 and 8, respectively.
In the north-east, the three slain terrorists belonged to the National Socialist Council of Nagaland-Khaplang (NSCN-K-YA)’s Yung Aung faction and the encounter took place near the India-Myanmar border at Khogla in Arunachal Pradesh’s Longding district, official sources said.
“I have been informed by the commanding officer of Assam Rifles at Khonsa that three cadres of NSCN-K-YA were killed in the encounter that took place around 8 am on Monday,” Longding deputy commissioner Bani Lego said. There was no statement from the Assam Rifles yet on the incident and no clarity on whether any member of the armed forces sustained injuries.
The three were killed days after an ambush near the Myanmar border in Manipur left five soldiers, including a colonel, his wife, and their eight-year-old son, dead on Saturday. The Revolutionary People’s Front, a group under which the People’s Liberation Army Manipur operates, jointly claimed responsibility for the ambush along with the Manipur Naga People’s Front that killed the army colonel and his family and four jawans.
The ambush came at a time when the security situation in the Northeast had improved significantly in the army’s assessment, and a planned and gradual drawdown of soldiers is underway there.
(Manas Dasgupta)
