More than 50-hour long gunfight between militants andgoverment forces ended in Shopian district of south Kashmir on Saturday.In all,two militants, a soldier and a non-local labourer were killed during the courseof gunfight which ensued on the intervening night of August 1 and 2 at IttooMohalla Pandushan village.

On Saturday, one more militant was killed and his body wasretrieved by the joint team of forces to conclude the “operation”.

Yesterday a militant identified as Zeenat-ul-Islam Naikoo ofMemmander Shopian, a soldier and the non-local Labourer namely Mujeeb of Biharwere killed.

Two weapons including one AK 47 and one SLR rifle were alsorecovered by the forces from the slain duo militants.A police officer told thatinvestigations are underway to ascertain the circumstances under which Mujeebwas killed.However, eyewitness said that the non-local’s body was lying in thearea and was not retrieved by the government forces as they withdrew from thearea.

Despite repeated attempts no senior officer could becontacted for comments as regards why the body of non-local was not retrievedby the joint team of forces.The encounter broke out on Thursday evening atIttoo Mohalla Pandoshan village after a joint team of army’s 34 RR, SOG and CRPFlaunched a cordon and search operation.

According to eyewitness youth took to streets and peltedstones on forces near the encounter site. The police and paramilitary CRPFdeployed in the area used tear smoke shells and pellets to disperse them.Meanwhile,thousands of people participated in the funeral prayers of Zeenat-ul-IslamNaikoo at his native village at Memmander village.

Zeenat was later buried amid pro-freedom slogans.