Kashmir University assistant professor Mohammad Rafi Bhat was killed in the encounter
In the middle of a raging encounter, senior police officer of Shopian district Shalinder Mishra had been asking the terrorists holed up inside a house -- including Hizbul Mujahideen's Saddam Padder, once close to Burhan Wani -- to surrender.
At the end of the
seven-hour-long gunfight, four terrorists and an assistant professor of the Sociology department of Kashmir University, Mohammad Rafi Bhat, were killed. Bhat had gone missing just two days ago.
Police brought in his parents to convince him to surrender, but he refused. A doctorate in Sociology, Bhat had cleared the University Grants Commission's Junior Research Fellowship. He had done research on globalisation and emerging trends in consumerism, a comparative study of rural and urban Kashmir.
Former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah tweeted:The police say they gave enough chances to the terrorists to surrender. "We gave them a chance to surrender. We made appeals through loudspeakers asking them to lay down their weapons. We gave them time, but they didn't surrender," said Shalinder Mishra.
The Jammu and Kashmir police chief tweeted:As the news of the encounter spread, protests erupted in Shopian and adjoining areas. There were clashes at many places. Five civilians were killed and dozens were injured in police firing.
The security forces said today's operation was a major success.
The police have found incriminating material, including arms and ammunition from the encounter site. Bhat was reportedly meeting the Hizbul commander when security forces launched the operation.