The toll in South Kashmir’s Shopian encounter has risen to six on March 5 as the authorities recovered two more bodies.
“Two more bodies were recovered in Shopian district this morning,” a police spokesperson said.
The bodies are suspected to be of the second militant and an individual.
According to reports, the Jammu and Kashmir police have also recovered two weapons from the suspected militants.
The suspected militant is reportedly identified as Ashiq Hussain Bhat of Lashkar-e-Taiba whose body was found seven kilometer from Pahnoo where the Mobile Vehicle Check Post incident occurred.
On the night of March 4, security forces had killed a militant and three youths in a shootout after the mobile check post of the army was fired upon. According to the police, the militant was Aamir Ahmed Malik, a resident Shopian’s Harmeen village.
A joint MVCP (mobile vehicle check post) in Shopian had signaled a car to stop, but it did not, according to a police official.
An Army spokesperson said the youths were overground militant workers, but local residents claimed they were civilians traveling in the car.
While the Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir Mehbooba Mufti has expressed grief over the incident, the killings have triggered an outrage in the Valley
“Deeply distressed by more deaths of civilians caught in the crossfire in Shopian. My heartfelt condolences to the deceased families,” said Mufti.
