November 29: Police in a statement said killed militants have been identified as Adnan Ahmad Lone alias Uqaab son of Ghulam Mohammad Lone resident of Braw Bandina, Awantipora and Adil Bilal Bhat alias Umair Al Hizbi son of Bilal Ahmad Bhat resident of Malangpora, Pulwama. Both were affiliated with HM. As per police records, Adnan Lone was known as district commander of Pulwama for HM.
“Both the militants were wanted by the law for their complicity in a series of attack on security establishments and civilian atrocities. Adnan Lone as per Police records was one of the top commanders of HM and had a long history of crime records since 2015. He was a close associate of commander Reyaz Naikoo and had escaped from encounter site at Srinagar earlier. Several cases were registered against him. Similarly Adil Bhat being a close associate of Reyaz Naikoo was also involved in several crimes. Among several other offences he also figured in killing of HC Ashiq Hussain at Awantipora in October 2017. Pertinently, no collateral damage took place during the encounter.
Huge quantity of arms & ammunition including rifles were recovered from the site of encounter. All these materials have been taken in the case records for further investigation and probe their complicity in other cases,” the police statement said.
“Citizens are once again requested not to venture inside the encounter zone since such an area can prove dangerous due to stray explosive materials. People are requested to cooperate with police till the area is completely sanitized and cleared of all the explosives materials,” the statement added.
