Four men in pherans walking in the streets of Chinigim village in Kulgam on a hot and humid day are said to have caught the attention of the army on Saturday, leading to a 24-hour gunfight which ended in the death of the militants.

Pheran is a loosely fitted woollen winter gown worn by locals here to keep themselves warm. However, at a time when temperatures in Kashmir touched 35°C, the highest in 25 years, the sight of people in pherans raised suspicion, the army said.

A traditional Kashmiri pheran

The militants had worn the pherans possibly to hide firearms.

The Kulgam district of south Kashmir was rocked by two gunfights in Chinigam and Modergam villages on Saturday, which ended on Sunday with the death of two army men and six militants.

The army on Monday said all the six militants were local Kashmiris, belonging to the Hizbul Mujahideen group, and some of them were fresh recruits.

The six militants were allegedly holed up for months in specially designed hideouts in the houses of locals in the two villages, one of whom in Chinigam was concealed behind a wardrobe.

Brigadier Prithvi Raj, who heads the Kulgam-based brigade of the Rashtriya Rifles, said the army had inputs about militant presence in the area for the past two months. He said they were monitoring the area with the help of surveillance drones and local sources.

“On July 6, we had specific information about the presence of terrorists in Chinigam village. Around 1500 hours (3pm), we had cordoned the area. At 1600 hours, one of our jawans saw the movement of four men in pherans. Wearing pheran in hot weather was suspicious,” Brigadier Raj said during a joint media conference with the police and the CRPF here.

“Seeing that, they were challenged. They opened a heavy volume of fire, using AK-47s and hand grenades. We effectively retaliated against the fire. In that exchange of fire, we lost our brave soldier. Four terrorists were killed in the operation that ran for 24 hours,” he said.

Deputy inspector-general of police, south Kashmir, Javed Iqbal Mattoo, identified the six militants as Adil Hussain Wani, an A-category militant, and Faisal Bashir, both from Shopian and killed in Modergam, and Kulgam residents Tawheed Ahmad Rather, Zahid Ahmad Dar, Yawar Bashir Dar and Shakeel Ahmad Wani killed in Chinigam.

Brigadier Raj said the death of the six Hizbul Mujahideen militants in the two encounters was a big blow to the militant outfit.