Valley’s longest-surviving militant among 5 killed in Kulgam encounter; 2 soldiers injured

On the intervening night of Wednesday and Thursday, a joint team of personnel from the J&K Police and the Army had cordoned off Kadder village in south Kashmir’s Kulgam after receiving inputs about the presence of militants in the area.

Police officers said that as the joint team were zeroing in on the target before dawn, militants rushed out of a house towards an orchard, opened indiscriminate fire and tried to break the security cordon. In the initial burst of fire, two soldiers were injured.

According to officials, the joint team of forces returned fire, leading to a gunfight in which the five militants were killed. All the slain militants were from Kulgam district, officials said.

In a post on X, the J&K Police said, “Five terrorists neutralised in Kulgam anti-terrorist operation.” The post added that search operations were continuing.

Officials later confirmed that one of the dead was Hizbul commander Bhat (44), alias Umer, alias Farooq Nali. From Yaripora in Kulgam, Bhat had joined the militant ranks in 2015 and went on to become the longest-surviving militant in the Valley. His name figured in the most-wanted militants’ list in 2021 and was categorised as an ‘A +’ militant in police records.

The other slain militants were identified as Mushtaq Ahmad Itoo, Adil Hussain, Yasir Javid and Mohammad Irfan. A resident of Mohammadpur village in Kulgam, Itoo had joined the Hizbul Mujahideen in March 2020. Hussain, a resident of Khandipora village, had been an active militant for over a year, while Irfan, a resident of Hawoorah, had joined the militant ranks in 2022. Javid had joined the militants this year.

Police officers said they recovered multiple identity cards from the slain militants, including Aadhaar cards, voter identity cards and ATM cards.

This is the second major gunfight in Kulgam this year. On July 8, six militants and two soldiers were killed in two separate gunfights in the district.