Villager confirms 3 Rajouri youths rented room, just 100 metres from Army camp

The Army said it was probing the matter, after the families said they had identified the three from pictures of the alleged militants that had surfaced on social media. (File)

On July 16, Imtiyaz Ahmad and his two cousins, who had arrived from Rajouri to find work as labourers in the Valley, rented a room in Chowgam village of Shopian. Two days later, they had lost touch with their families back home. On Monday, the families claimed the three “unidentified” men killed in an “encounter” by the Army on July 18 were Ahmad and his cousins Mohammed Ibrar and Ibrar Ahmed.

The Army's 62 Rashtriya Rifles had claimed the “encounter”. Its camp is located 100 metres from where the three Rajouri youths stayed. The orchards in Amshipora where the Army said the alleged pre-dawn encounter took place is located around 10 km from Chowgam.

The Army said it was probing the matter, after the families said they had identified the three from pictures of the alleged militants that had surfaced on social media. They have said that one of the three killed, Ibrar Ahmed, was just 16. On Tuesday, the J&K Police, that had earlier distanced itself from the encounter, saying it was carried out on Army inputs, said it would also…