The new currency and arms recovered from the two militants who were shot dead in Bandipora on Tuesday. Tribune photo

Majid Jahangir

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, November 22

Two militants were killed in an encounter with security forces in north Kashmir’s Bandipora district today.The brief gunfight erupted early this morning when the police, CRPF and the Army cordoned off Bonikhan Mohalla in Hajin, around 30 km from Srinagar, following an input about militant presence in the area.“Two heavily armed terrorists were neutralised during the operation. We have recovered two AK rifles, one Under Barrel Grenade Launcher (UBGL) and a large quantity of war-likes stores,” Commanding Officer, 13 Rashtriya Rifles, Col Vikramjeet Singh told mediapersons after the operation.“The operation was conducted in a built-up area and we ensured that there was no collateral damage to the houses and civilians population in the area,” he added.A police officer said both slain militants were residents of Pakistan and associated with the Lashkar-e-Toiba.The militants were killed a day after suspected militants fled with nearly Rs 13 lakh, including Rs 11 lakh old currency, from a bank in central Kashmir’s Budgam district.Rs 2,000 notes recovered from slain ultras At a time when people are struggling to get new currency, fresh notes of Rs 2,000 were recovered from the two militants killed in the encounter. “We have begun investigations as to how the militants got the new currency,” said Senior Superintendent of Police, Bandipora, Zulfikar Azad. The police also recovered Rs 11,600 in Rs 100 denomination from the two slain militants. Earlier this month, Prime Minister Narendra Modi demonetised Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency notes and the move was mainly intended to curb the flow of funds to militant organisations and counterfeit money. However, the recovery of new currency notes from the possession of slain Pakistani militants indicates that the insurgents transact mostly in genuine currency. Several J&K police officers opine that the demonetisation is not going to have “much impact” on militancy in Kashmir.