Two of five militants killed on LoC in May said to be locals; families ask bodies to be exhumed for proper burial

Srinagar: Two of the five militants killed by the Indian Army last month while trying to sneak into Jammu and Kashmir’s Tangdhar sector from Pakistan were on Sunday identified as locals by their families. The army had said that the five militants were trying to infiltrate the Line of Control (LoC) when they were killed by troops on 25 May. [caption id=“attachment_4477491” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. Reuters[/caption] While the army said it had recovered a huge cache of arms and ammunition from the slain militants, the exact identity of the slain militants had not been established. The militants were buried by locals who had taken their photographers which were later circulated on social media. Based on the photographic evidences, two families from Pulwama and Kulgam districts claimed the two were their kin. One of the militants was identified as Shiraz Ahmad of Lajoora in Pulwama and the other was identified as Mudasir Ahmad of Parigam village in Kulgam district. Shiraz was missing since September 2017 and Mudasir had gone missing since July 2016. The families have urged the Jammu and Kashmir Police to exhume the bodies so that they are given a proper burial. According to the police, the bodies are now likely to be exhumed and DNA tests will be conducted to establish the claim of the families.