Srinagar: Two Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) militants, including a foreign militant, were killed in a brief “chance encounter” in Rangreth area of the city on Monday, police said.
Giving details, a police spokesperson said that based on a specific input regarding the movement of militants in the general area of Rangreth, surprise ‘naka’ checking points were established tactically by police in the area.
“During checking at one such naka manned by a small team of Srinagar Police, two suspected people, on noticing the police party, fired indiscriminately upon them. However, the fire was effectively retaliated, leading to a brief encounter in which two terrorists were neutralised on (the) spot,” the police spokesperson said.
The spokesperson identified one of the slain militants as Aadil Ahmad Wani, a resident of Daramdoora Shopian who was “a Pakistan-trained ‘A’ category terrorist”.
“Another killed terrorist as per credible sources is a foreign terrorist, yet the same is being further ascertained. Both the slain terrorists were affiliated with proscribed terror outfit LeT,” he said.
According to police records, the spokesperson said that the slain militants “were involved in several terror crime cases and civilian atrocities, and played a key role in number of recent killings in Srinagar city”.
“On March last year, Wani, along with his associates, fired upon police party post Warpora Sopore in which a police personnel Wajahat Asadullah was killed and a civilian Shaban Wagay was killed.
“Besides, the slain terrorist was also involved in several grenade attacks on police or security forces establishments, including a grenade attack at the Sopore bus stand in which 19 civilians were injured, a grenade attack at Police Post Bus Stand Sopore in which two police personnel were injured,” he said.
“Arms and ammunition, including two AK rifles, and other incriminating materials were recovered from the site of encounter and they have all been taken into case records for further investigation and to probe their complicity in other terror crimes,” the police spokesperson said.
BJP worker’s PSO decamps with weapons in Kupwara
A Personal Security Officer (PSO) of a BJP worker went missing on Monday along with two rifles from Kupwara district of north Kashmir, officials here said.
Saqib Tantray, a resident of Bohipora in Kupwara, was posted as a PSO to BJP worker Abdul Rashid Zargar, who is staying at Old MLA hostel in Kupwara, they said.
During investigation, it came to light that two rifles were also missing from Zargar’s residence, they said
A close associate, also neighbor, of Saqib Tantray, identified as Arif Ahmad Mir, has also been missing since morning, they added.
