Hizb Mujahideen militant killed in encounter with security forces

Srinagar: A Hizbul Mujahideen terrorist was killed while five other militants were believed to have escaped during an encounter in South Kashmir's Anantnag district, officials said.

The body of the militant, identified as Farhan Ahmad Wani, was handed over to his parents for burial in Khudwani village on the border of Kulgam and Shopian where villagers were already agitating over the death of a person killed in a road accident involving a para-military vehicle.

Wani's death agitated the crowd further and it started pelting stones at a nearby Army camp, officials said.

They said the Army started firing in the air initially but had to aim at the crowd when jawans claimed to have been fired upon from the other side, the officials said. Two persons received bullet injuries with one of them succumbing to his injuries at the hospital, they said.

The deceased has been identified as 22-year-old Khalid Dar. Giving details of the encounter, the officials said that there was an intelligence input that militants from Hizbul Mujahideen and Lashker-e-Taiba had gathered in Pehlipora village in Larnoo, Kokernag.

One militant was killed while five others were believed to have managed to escape, the officials said. A police spokesperson also confirmed that a "Hizbul Mujahideen terrorist" had been killed in the encounter in Kokerenag.

Earlier, the police and the Army had claimed to have killed two militants in the encounter.