Indian forces killed two suspected militants in Awantipora, Pulwama district on Sunday, media reports said.
The deceased ‘militants’ were identified as Rayees Ahmad Wani and Farooq Ahmad Hurra, affiliated with the militant Hizbul Mujahideen group operating in the India-held Kashmir, Dawn reported.
Hurra and Wani lived in Shopian and Pulwama districts and had joined the militant group in April and June of 2016, respectively.
According to Dawn, a joint party of Special Operations Group of Jammu and Kashmir Police and 55 Rashtriya Rifles ambushed the southern part of Pulwama district after receiving a tip-off about two suspected militants travelling in a car.
As soon as the car reached the barricade, “militants opened fire, which was retaliated”, an Indian official told Srinagar-based media, adding, “in the ensuing gunfight, both were killed.”
Witnesses said that police and paramilitary forces resorted to teargas shells to disperse people who had gathered near the Awantipora police station to demand the bodies of the slain suspected militants.
The protesters retaliated by throwing stones, triggering clashes between the two sides.
