Jaish Commander, associate killed, trooper hurt in Pulwama gunfight

Srinagar: Two Jaish-e-Muhammad (JeM) militants, including its Divisional Commander were killed while an Army officer was injured in the nightlong gunfight in south Kashmir’s Pulwama district that ended on Saturday morning.Official sources told  that Ahsan Bhai alias Mamu of Pakistan, JeM’s Divisional Commander and his associates Javed Ahmad alias Umair, son of Farooq Ahmad Nengroo of Hanjan Bala were killed as the joint team of Army, SOG and 182 Battalion CRPF launched a final assault at a house in Hanjan village of Rajpora, where the militants were holed up since last evening.They said an Army officer identified as Major Dixit of 44 Rashtriya Rifles (RR) was also injured in the encounter that erupted after the joint team on a tip-off cordoned off the village and launched search operations.Two AK-47 rifles, 6 magazines, 60 rounds were recovered from the encounter site.  Superintendent of Police (SP) Pulwama, Amit Kumar said that two militants were killed in the encounter that ended this morning.“The bodies of the militants have been recovered,” he added.Meanwhile, a police spokesman quoting SP said that Ahsan Bhai was active in the area for the last 11 years and was instrumental in recruiting local youths for the outfit. Apart from the recent encounter at Inder Pulwama which left an Army man dead, the spokesman said, the JeM commander was also involved in many attacks on the forces.“Javeed Nengroo was active since 2008 and was involved in attack on police station Rajpora, Pulwama,” the spokesman said.