4 killed in Srinagar encounter

SRINAGAR: The Jammu and Kashmir Police has said there are not more than 140-150 militants in the state and none active in Srinagar. The revelations came hours after the police gunned down three militants in a city locality soon after they had killed a cop.

“We had information that there will be some kind of militant movement, but we had no idea of the attack,” Inspector-General Shiv Murari Sahai told a news conference. “They were on a motorcycle and attacked a police party in Qamarwari killing one of them and in the retaliatiory fire all three militants were killed.”

Sahai said they are collecting details. He refused to offer any idea about the identity of the slain trio and the place where they had come from. He even said it will take time to identify the group to which they belonged. “We have found two pistols and we do not know if the slain are locals or not,” he said.

The police has seized the motorcycle and its owner has been identified. “We are investigating the case,” a district police officer said. A civilian who was injured in the brief encounter has been hospitalised.

All the senior police officers were part of the guard of honour in the police control room where they bid adieu to the slain cop, head constable Mohammad Ashraf Shah. A resident of Lar (Ganderbal), Shah, was a 1997 batch constable and is surviving by two minors and a young wife. After the floral wreaths were laid on the coffin the body was driven to his home.

However, Sahai said the Qamarwari encounter should not overshadow the huge achievement that the counter insurgency grid had in north Kashmir where they eliminated divisional commander rank militant of the Lashkar on the weekend.