Slain militant's Kolhapur connection yet to be ascertained: DSP

Kolhapur, May 31 (UNI) District Superintendent of Police Sukhwinder Singh today said it was yet to be ascertained whether a militant, killed in an encounter in Kashmir yesterday, hailed from Kolhapur as reported by a section of the press.

Two militants were killed by the Border Security Force (BSF) yesterday at Tral in Pulwama district and one of them, Afeej Mohammed Rahman Athar, was stated to hail from Kolhapur.

Mr Singh told reporters here that there was confusion about the identity of the slain militant. The police have traced the address at Tarabai Park here where the slain militant is supposed to have resided.

However, the man and the woman in the house have claimed that the name of their son was Irfan Moiddin Athar and he was presently staying at a ''madarasa'' in Gujarat since the last couple of years.

A police team has been sent to Gujarat and the picture would become clear within a few days, Mr Singh said.

The body of the militant, killed in the encounter, has been renderred unrecognisable and, so, the police has not been able to reach any definite conclusion about the identity, Mr Singh said.

UNI BBK VJ VP0017