Two Among Them Were Involved In TV Artists Killing: IGP
Srinagar- The Jammu and Kashmir police on Friday claimed to have killed four Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) militants, two among them allegedly involved in shooting dead a TV artist, in separate encounters in Srinagar and Pulwama districts of the Valley.
Around 9:30pm Thursday, police, army’s 55 RR and the personnel of CRPF 130 battalion launched a cordon and search operation in the Aghanzipora area of Awantipora on a specific input about the presence of militants in the village, a police spokesperson said Friday.
The search team, he said, came under heavy fire from the hiding militants when a cordon was being laid around a cluster of houses. He said the joint team returned the fire, setting off an encounter.
In the exchange of gunfire, the spokesperson said, two local militants of LeT were killed and their bodies were retrieved from the site of the encounter.
He identified them as Shahid Mushtaq Bhat of Hafroo Chadoora, Budgam and Farhan Habib of Hakripora, Pulwama.
Meanwhile, two militants were killed in a separate encounter in Soura area of this capital city, the spokesperson said.
Giving further details, he said that Srinagar Police developed an input about movement of militants from South Kashmir to Srinagar City and tracked their presence in Soura area of the city.
“A special & small team of Srinagar Police launched a cordon and search operation in the said area,” he said.
During the search, the spokesperson said, as the presence of militants was ascertained and search party proceeded towards the suspected spot, the hiding militants fired indiscriminately upon search party which retaliated leading to an encounter.
In the ensuing encounter, he said, two LeT militants were killed and their bodies were retrieved from the site of the encounter.
The police identified them as Shakir Ahmad Waza and Afreen Aftab Malik, both residents of Trenz Shopian.
As per police records, the spokesperson said, both the killed militants were categorized and were part of groups involved in several “terror crime cases” including attacks on Police and security forces.
“Incriminating materials, huge cache of arms & ammunition was recovered from both the sites of encounter. All the recovered materials have been taken into case records for further investigation,” he said.
While interacting with media, IGP Kashmir Vijay Kumar said that both of the slain youth had joined militant ranks recently and were involved in killing of artist Amreen Bhat on the directions of their Commander Lateef.
Kumar, according to the spokesperson, congratulated the joint teams for their valour and determination to neutralize and avenge the killing of artiste Amreen Bhat within 24hrs.
“He also termed these operations as a big success and said that during past three days 10 terrorists including 3 from JeM and 7 from LeT proscribed terror outfits have been neutralized in the Kashmir valley,” he added.
Militants Escape
Meanwhile a report from North Kashmir said that the militants managed to escape after a brief exchange of fire with security forces in Bandipora district on Friday.
“After initial brief encounter during a cordon and search operation in the Gundpora Rampora area of Bandipora, militants managed to escape from the spot,” police said in a statement, adding, “However, our team is chasing them.
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