Srinagar: Thousands of people on Thursday participated in the last rites of Aaqib Ittoo, the slain Hizb-ul-Mujahideen militant, at his ancestral Gopalpora village of Kulgam district in south Kashmir.
Two militants were killed in a brief shootout with the Indian Armed Forces in Kulgam district of south Kashmir late Wednesday night.
Ittoo was killed along with an associate Suhail Ahmad in an ambush laid by army and police in Gopalpora village earlier today.
The mourners were raising pro-freedom and pro-Islam slogans as they marched with the body of Itoo.
Ittoo was killed along with an associate Suhail Ahmad in an ambush laid by army and police in Gopalpora village earlier today. Photo : Hilal Shah
Hizb-ul-Mujahideen was founded by Muhammad Ahsan Dar in September 1989, and is a Kashmiri anti-India resistace and designated Islamic group. It is designated a terrorist organisation by India. It has been active in the state of Jammu and Kashmir since 1989. The current commander of the group is a Sayeed Salahudeen.
Holding a radical Islamic and pro-Pakistan ideology, the group is considered to be the largest indigenous militant group in Kashmir. In 1990 Muhammad Ahsan Dar had more than 10,000 armed men under his command.
According to a report in Greater Kashmir, a newspaper published in Srinagar, an official said that 9 RR of army and Special Operations Group (SOG) of Jammu and Kashmir Police laid an ambush in Gopalpora village of Damhal Hanjipora after inputs about the movement of militants in the area were received.
Two AK-47 rifles were recovered from the slain militants. Their identity was not immediately known, the report added.
Meanwhile, authorities have reportedly again suspended the mobile Internet services in south Kashmir.
