A terrorist fires at the funeral of an Al-Badr commander in J&K

SRINAGAR: Two terrorists - Al-Badr's dreaded commander Zeenat-ul Islam and his associate, Shakeel Ahmad Dar - were killed on Saturday evening in an encounter with security forces in south Kashmir's Kulgam district.

On Sunday, during Zeenat's funeral at Sugan village of Shopian district, security forces opened fire on 'mourners' who tried to forcibly enter the area after breaking barricades. At least 11 people, including a girl, were injured in the firing, police said.

At 5.30 pm on Saturday, the Army's 34 RR, SOG and CRPF personnel launched a cordon-and-search operation in Kulgam's Katapora when terrorists started firing on them.

The forces retaliated, leading to a gunfight in which the two terrorists, both from Shopian, were killed.

Arms and ammunition were recovered from the encounter site, police said, adding that no collateral damage had been reported.

Reports said on Sunday security forces had put up barricades on roads and also tried to stop the movement of people through orchards to limit the crowd joining Zeenat's funeral. Security forces resorted to firing after hundreds of youths tried to forcibly join the funeral.

This was the first time after Burhan Wani's killing in 2016 that security forces tried to limit the number of people at the funeral of any terrorist. Normally, thousands of people join funerals of slain terrorists, which, in turn, incites and encourages young boys to join terror groups. Before gunning down 30-year-old Zeenat and his aide Shakeel, the police and Army had tried to persuade the former's father to urge his son to surrender which he refused to do.