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Updated: Jun 11, 2019 23:55 IST

Two “Islamic State (IS)-inspired militants” were killed in a firefight with security forces at Awneera in South Kashmir’s Shopian district on Monday, the Jammu and Kashmir police said in a statement.

The statement identified the two as Sayar Ahmad Bhat and Shakir Ahmad Wagay.

The IS terror group overran swathes of Iraq and Syria in 2014 before Baghdad declared a victory over it in 2017. In March, US-backed forces in Syria said they have defeated the group in Syria as well. The IS’s defeat in Syria marked an end to the group’s territorial control, which was used to carry attacks across the world.

The statement said Bhat and Wagay were wanted for terror crimes, including attacks on security establishments. It added Wagay was involved in the killing of a civilian, Irfan Hameed Sheikh, in Zainapora. The statement did not elaborate on the nature of other crimes or attacks the two were wanted for. The government has so far maintained that there was no direct link between the IS and those it has allegedly inspired in Kashmir.

In February, the then Union minister of state for home affairs, Hansraj Gangaram Ahir, told Lok Sabha that seven local youths had joined an IS-inspired group in Kashmir through “self-proclamation”. Ahir added four of them were killed in June 2018 at Khiram in South Kashmir’s Anantnag district while two were arrested and one remained active.