Early Times Report
SRINAGAR, June 18: Heavily armed militants have given a "3-volley salute" to their slain colleagues who were killed in a gunfight in the apple town of Sopore in north Kashmir on Friday, putting the security agencies on tenterhooks.
Sources said as the funeral of two Hizbul Mujahideen militants killed in brief gunfight in Bomai area of Sopore on June 18, was underway, some masked gunmen appeared at the procession only to offer "three gun salute" which was responded by anti-India sloganeering by the mourners.
Sources said the police have inputs that the militants managed to disappear in the huge funeral. Earlier during the day, acting on a specific input, Army's 22 Rashtriya Rifles, Special Operations Group of J&K Police, and CRPF personnel had jointly killed two militants in a gunfight.
"But now (after gun salute incident) it is clear that more militants are still active in the area," said a police official.
At 9:00 PM, sources said, heavily armed militants arrived at the grave of Altaf Ahmed at Brath Kalan and offered the "3-volley salute".
A police official said the "3-volley salute" is actually a ceremonial act performed at military and police funerals. "It seems that militants want to legitimize their activities through such acts, which are actually meant for government forces" he said.
It is for the first time in the recent past that the militants have given a gun salute to their colleagues.
Security forces have been saying that around 200 militants are active in Kashmir, out of which one-third are foreigners.
Over the past two years, the Sopore town has witnessed a rise in militancy related incidents whereas Sopore-Palhalan-Pattan stretch is being seen as a "circuit active in militancy". A similar circuit is active in Kulgam-Tral-Shopian stretch in the south of the Valley.
But a police official said in the wake of gun salute reports, the intelligence network has been intensified. "We are trying to ascertain their whereabouts," a police official said. |
