The Kashmir Pulse

SRINAGAR — A Darul Uloom (Islamic seminary) and two residential houses were damaged in a massive fire in Khanyar area of Srinagar on Thursday.

A marriage hall and two more houses in the vicinity also suffered slight damage in the fire, the cause of which is being investigated, officials were quoted as having said by news agency GNS.

They said that fire erupted in the congested locality in the early morning and caused damage to two houses beside the seminary.

Officials of the Fire and Emergency department said that timely intervention prevented the fire from spreading to more houses. “Because of the narrow lanes, the normal fire engine could be taken to the spot and the department took it in a small load carrier,” the officials said.

With the help of locals and other allied agencies, they said, the fire was contained.

They said that there was no report regarding injuries to anyone in the fire incident. Asked about the cause of the fire, they said, the same is being investigated by the police.

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SRINAGAR — Three Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) militants were killed in a gunfight in Pulwama district and one of them includes a 17-year-old Srinagar youth, who had gone missing from April 16, officials said.

The two other militants include Arif Hazar alias Rehan who, according to the officials, was deputy to the outfit’s top commander Basit while the third militant has been identified as ‘Haqqani’ of Pakistan.

Inspector-General of Police Vijay Kumar confirmed to GNS that the teenager Natish Shakeel Wani of Baba Demb (Khanyar) was among the killed militants. The teenager had left for afternoon (Zuhr) prayers on April 16 and had been missing since.

While his family had issued an appeal to him to return, police said he had joined militant ranks.

The IGP also identified another militant as Arif Hazar and said that he was involved in the killing of inspector Parvez, Sub Inspector Arshid and a mobile shop owner in Srinagar.

“Arif Hazar alias Rehan, deputy of LeT’s top cmdr (Basit) killed in PulwamaEncounter. (He was) involved in killings of Insp Parvez infront of mosque, SI Arshid & 1 mobile shop owner in downtown. Several FIRs against him in Sgr city,” IGP Kashmir said in a tweet.

Three militants of Lashkar-e-Toiba were killed in the gunfight at Pahoo area of south Kashmir’s Pulwama district on Sunday. “Three LeT militants have been killed in the gunfight,” police said.

The gunfight had ensued as a joint team of Police and the Army launched a cordon and search operation in the area amid reports about the presence of militants.

As the joint team of forces zeroed in on the suspected spot, the officials told GNS that the hiding militants fired on the joint team, which was retaliated, triggering off the gunfight.

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