Soldiers near the encounter site at Tral in Pulwama district on Sunday. Tribune Photo: Amin War

Azhar Qadri

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, March 5

A police constable and two militants, including a close associate of slain commander Burhan Wani, were killed in a fierce gunfight which continued for more than 12 hours and ended on Sunday morning in south Kashmir’s Tral sub-district. An Army officer and a policeman were also injured in the encounter.The gunfight took place at Haffoo village in Tral, 40 km from Srinagar. The firefight erupted on Saturday evening immediately after the security forces cordoned off the village following specific information about the presence of militants inside a house, two senior police officials said.The two militants were killed during the fierce nightlong gunfight in which one police constable was also killed and a Major and a policeman were injured.IGP, Kashmir, SJM Gillani said one of the two militants killed in the gunfight had been identified as Aqib Ahmad Bhat, a resident of Tral’s Hayuna village, which borders Haffoo. He was categorised as A-plus-plus in police records and was among the most wanted militant commanders in the region.Bhat, who operated under the codename Zeeshan and had joined militancy in 2013, was a close associate of former militant commander Burhan Wani, whose killing in a gunfight last year had triggered a long unrest in the region.The IGP said the second militant is possibly a foreigner whose identity was being confirmed. “As per the information we have, he is Saifullah, alias Usama, a foreigner,” Gilani said. The officer said both militants were killed on Sunday morning.The gun battle was severe and deafening blasts resounded through the night, several local residents said. Even as the fierce gunfight raged at Haffoo, protesters from adjacent localities surrounded the village and attempted to disrupt the counter-insurgency operation by clashing with security personnel to help the militants escape.The police constable killed in the gunfight was identified as Manzoor Ahmad Naik, a resident of north Kashmir’s Uri sub-district. The constable was killed this morning when he was hit by bullets fired by a militant under the debris of the house brought down by the blasts. Naik was part of the police’s counter-insurgency unit.Ops to continue till all ultras killed: DGP Srinagar: Director General of Police (DGP) Shesh Paul Vaid on Sunday said the counter-insurgency operations would continue till all militants were killed in the Kashmir valley. “The counter-insurgency operations will continue till all militants are killed in the Kashmir valley. We will bring peace to the Valley,” the DGP told reporters after paying tributes to a police constable who was killed in an encounter in Tral.  “We have killed two militants in the Tral encounter. One of them is a top Hizbul Mujahideen commander while the other is a Pakistani national,” the DGP said. — TNS