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Bodies Of LeT Militant Junaid Ahmad Mattoo, 2 Others Recovered From Encounter Site In Kashmir's Arwani

During yesterday's encounter, two civilians were also killed.
Representative image.
Hindustan Times via Getty Images
Representative image.

SRINAGAR -- Bodies of dreaded Lashkar-e-Taiba militant Junaid Ahmad Mattoo and two others were recovered on Saturday from the encounter site in Arwani village of South Kashmir.

Besides 24-year-old Mattoo alias 'Jana', the other two bodies were of 18-year-old Adil Mushtaq Mir alias 'Nana' and 20-year-old Nisar Ahmad Wani. All three belong to the banned terror outfit Lashkar.

Hailing from Khudwani village of Kulgam, 24-year-old Mattoo joined militancy in June 2015. He had a meteoric rise within the Lashkar group and was appointed commander for South Kashmir after he gunned down two policemen in broad daylight at Anantnag bus stand in June last year.

While Mir hailed from Frasbal area of Pampore, Wani was from Heff Shremal of Shopian district. Both had joined militancy after the death of Hizbul Mujahideen poster boy Burhan Wani in 2016.

Police had laid a cordon around a house in Malik Mohalla in Arwani village at 8 AM on Friday following an intelligence tip off about the presence of three militants there. The first engagement with terrorists took place at 10 AM after which additional forces were rushed to the spot.

By late afternoon, firing had stopped but two houses had caught fire during the encounter. After the fire tenders doused the raging flames, police and other security forces, which were already embattled by stone pelters, began a search operation in the rubble.

The security forces were also fired upon from the crowd that was indulging in stone pelting, police said, adding that the Lashkar-e-Taiba militants were desperate to save Mattoo.

The serach operation was also hampered after six policemen including an officer Feroz Ahmed Dar were gunned down at Achabal area, 20 km south of the encounter site. This act was a revenge by Lashkar-e-Taiba for killing of Mattoo and two others.

During yesterday's encounter, two civilians were also killed. In the morning itself, a civilian identified as Mohammad Ashraf Khar, 34, was killed in the crossfire between the forces and the militants.

Khar, a resident of Kharpora Arwani area, was rushed to the district hospital at Bijbehara where he was declared brought dead, police said.

Meanwhile, the joint separatist leadership has called for complete shutdown in the Valley today against the killing of two civilians in firing by security forces a day before.

The security has also been beefed up to prevent any untoward incident.

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