Bear kills two militants in Valley hideout

The two bodies were recovered from a cave hideout along with two AK-47 rifles,six magazines and 130 rounds of ammunition, Brar said. The injury marks on the bodies suggested that a bear attacked and killed them. We handed over the bodies to the police. Postmortems on the bodies have since been performed.

Inspector General of Police,Kashmir range,Farooq Ahmed said that the face of one militant was mutilated while the other had claw injuries. We suspect that one militant who was injured in the bear attack escaped from the hideout, Ahmed said. We have launched a search for him.

Police sources say the militants had entered the Valley from Jammu.

The two dead militants have been identified as Bashir Zarar alias Saifullah,who was the Hizbul Mujahideens district commander for Pir Panjal range,and HMs tehsil commander Mohammad Amin alias Kaiser of Gulabgadh,Reasi.

According to wildlife officials,about 60 people have been killed in the state in attacks by leopards and black bears.

Around 325 people have also been mauled by wild animals,particularly by the black bear. The increasing number of incidents of man-animal conflict had,in fact,forced the state Wildlife Department to formulate a comprehensive management plan to tackle the issue.