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AMU scholar who turned militant shot dead in encounter in Kashmir’s Handwara

Two Hizbul Mujahideen militants, including PhD scholar-turned-terrorist Manan Bashir Wani, were killed Thursday during an encounter with security forces at Handwara in frontier district of north Kashmir, officials said. Police, however, said the identities of both the militants was being ascertained.

The encounter broke out in the early hours at Satgund in Handwara following a specific intelligence about presence of Wani, 27, along with two others, they said. Wani had joined militancy in January 2018.

Giving details emerging from the encounter site, which ended, police and other security forces were fired upon by holed up militants resulting in exchange of fire which continued till 11 AM.

Police was also making repeated announcements on public address system appealing to the militants to surrender, the officials said.

There was a lull in firing at around 9 AM, prompting the police to initiate search operation at the encounter site, but the same had to be suspended after firing resumed after 15 minutes, the officials said.

Wani, who was enrolled as a PhD scholar with the Aligarh Muslim University (AMU), joined militant ranks in January this year.

First Published: Oct 11, 2018 15:00 IST

Source: HindustanTimes