Doubts over authenticity of Rambagh encounter: PDP president Mehbooba Mufti

Srinagar: PDP president Mehbooba Mufti on Thursday said “legitimate doubts are looming” over the authenticity of the encounter in Rambagh area of the city here in which police killed three militants.

Officials had said that three militants, including a self-styled commander of terror outfit The Resistance Front (TRF), wanted in the recent civilian killings in the city, were gunned down by security forces on Wednesday.

In a tweet, Mufti said, “After yesterday’s alleged encounter at Rambagh legitimate doubts are looming over its authenticity”.

The PDP chief charged that according to reports and witnesses “it seems that the firing was one sided”.

“Again the official version far from truth is not in line with ground realities as seen in Shopian, HMT & Hyderpora,” the former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister alleged.

The three militants were identified as Mehran Shalla, the self-styled commander of TRF, Manzoor Ahmad Mir and Arafat Sheikh, both residents of Pulwama.

According to the officials, the militants were affiliated with TRF, an offshoot of Lashkar-e-Taiba.