2 militants killed in Shopian gunfight buried in Baramulla despite families claiming they were their kin

Srinagar April 18: The two militants, who were killed in Shopian gunfight on Friday, were buried in north Kashmir’s Sheeri area of Baramulla despite families claiming that the slain were their kin.

The police have all along maintained that bodies of the slain militants remained unidentified and were not claimed by any family.

Families, who claim to be relatives of the dead militants said, they did not only approached the police, but also the approached the deputy commissioner Shopian as well.

The families identified the slain militant as Ashiq Ahmad Magray of Ganavpora and Asif Ahmad Dar of Bungam Shopian. They said both were affiliated with Hizb-ul-Mujahideen.

“As soon we came to know about their killing, we approached police and Deputy Commissioner Shopian. They told us to wait and despite our imploring that not more than six persons amid pandemic will participate in their funerals, they took bodies to Baramulla,” Ghulam Nabi Magray, uncle of Ashiq Ahmad Magray said.

He said he identified his nephew through photographs which went viral on social media soon after the encounter was over.

Rafi Ahmad Dar, brother of Asif Ahmad Dar, said he called him early morning said that he was under trap in the cordon.

“I shared the message with a concerned police officer,” he said, adding, “The pictures (of the bodies) are clear and we have no doubt they are our kin.”

On Friday, the gunfight at Dairoo Keegam area of southern Shopian district took place nearly a week after Jash-e-Mohammad militant Sajad Nawab Dar was killed and hundreds of people participated in his funeral at Sopore.

Later police registered FIR against people who gathered at the funeral in defiance of a lockdown to contain the novel coronavirus outbreak.

However, a police officer claimed that the slain were unidentified and nobody approached them before the bodies were taken to Sheeri Baramulla, one of the places in Kashmir Valley where foreign militants or those who remain unidentified are normally buried.

Asked if the bodies would be handed over to the families as they claim them to be their kin, the police officer said: “We had already taken their sample (slain militants). If any family claims that they were their kin they have to follow the procedure.”  He said once the DNA samples are received, they would be matched with the concerned families. (GNS)