Two cop-turned-militants killed in army encounter in J-K

Two Special Police Officers, who had deserted the police force in September and joined militancy, were shot dead on Thursday in an encounter with army troops in Doda district of Jammu and Kashmir.

An encounter in Doda district, which has been almost free of any militancy, has taken place after four years.

On specific information, troops launched an operation in a remote Doda belt on late Wednesday night, PRO Defence S N Acharya said.

In the ensuing gun-battle, two militants were killed at 4:30 am, Acharya said, adding, the bodies have been recovered along with one AK rifle, an INSAS rifle and some ammunition.

“Further details are awaited”, he said.

The Jammu zone Inspector General Danish Rana said that the encounter took place on early Thursday morning in which two SPOs, who had deserted the police force in September and joined militants, were eliminated.

Those killed in the encounter have been identified as Ghulam Nabi Mangnoo alias Maulvi code name Gulla Tailor and Raiz Ahmed, police officials said.

While Maulvi had surrendered as the district commander of the Lashkar-e-Tayiba before the police in 2010 and joined as an SPO, Raiz had surrendered as the Hizbul Mujahideen terrorist in 2010.

Maulvi had joined the LeT in 2003 and Raiz joined the Hizbul in 1999, they said, adding the duo deserted the police force in Doda on the night of September 7-8 along with an AK rifle and an INSAS rifle with 60 and 70 rounds, and again joined militancy.

“We were tracking them and today eliminated them in an encounter in Gadi Nallah. The area has been free from militancy for the past several years and these two SPOs had run away with weapons but we eliminated them within the shortest period”, Rana said.

In the June 2011 encounter, two LeT militants were killed in a fierce gun-battle between the ultras and the security forces.