Army kills two militants involved in forest guard family massacre

According to the Defence spokesperson, soon after the massacre of the forest guard’s family followed by the torture of Hussain to death, the troops of Romeo Force launched a large-scale `seek and destroy operation’ in the area.

Giving details of the operation, a senior officer informed that during the wee hours today, the troops of JWG Brigade on receiving specific information about the movement of militants, launched an operation. Following this, one of the columns immediately rushed to the spot. The militants, on seeing the troops, opened heavy volume of fire.

During the encounter, two militants and a civilian were killed. However, troops maintained that he was one of the local accomplices of the militants. He has been identified as Nishat Ahmad.

“The documents recovered from the militants revealed that they were among the three militants who, two days back had massacred the forest guard’s family. Because on one of the papers, they had written the names of their targets and the time,” informed an officer involved in an operation.

Inspector General of Police, Jammu Zone R.V. Raju also confirmed the involvement of the group in the killing.

It can be recalled that on September 30 at about 1.30 am, three militants entered Nar village. While one of them stood guard outside, the other two stormed into Hussain’s house and tried to take his son Tariq across the border for jehad. In order to prevent them from doing so, Tariq’s mother Ashraf Begum and three minor brothers and sisters formed a human shield around him. But the enraged militants sprayed bullets on all of them and later fled from there.

Several hours after the massacre, the mutilated body of Hussain with gouged out eyes and chopped limbs was found thrown by the militants in Kangri forest area.

A senior army officer informed that following the pressure of the troops, two of the militants involved in the massacre remained in hiding for several hours and were planning to cross over to the other side.

But the timely information provided by the villagers about the militants’ movement helped security forces to eliminate them, said a senior officer of the JWG Brigade.