Srinagar: A “hybrid terrorist” of Lashkar-e-Taiba, accompanying a police party for identifying a hideout, was killed in an encounter between security forces and terrorists in Anantnag district of south Kashmir on Sunday, police said.
“Hybrid terrorist” is a term used by police to describe those “who are not listed as ultras but are radicalised enough to carry out a terror strike and then slip back into routine life”.
“The hybrid terrorist, Sajad Ahmad Tantray alias Furqan, son of Mohammad Maqbool Tantray, a resident of Shirpora in Kulgam, was involved in the killing of a non-local labourer — Chota Prasad son of Nethoni Prasad resident of Gorakhpur Khushi Nagar UP — at Rakhmomen in Anantnag’s Bijbehara on November 12,” a police spokesperson said.
“He was arrested and during questioning, he confessed to his involvement in the labourer’s killing. At his instance, a pistol used in the commission of the terror crime was recovered,” the spokesperson said.
“Tantray also revealed information about the presence of terrorists in Bijbehara’s Cheki Duddo area,” he added.
On the basis of information provided by Tantray, the police said, a search and cordon operation was launched in Cheki Dudoo.
“As the search party approached the hideout, it came under heavy firing from the hiding terrorists, and Tantray was critically injured. He was immediately shifted to a hospital in Bijbehara where doctors declared him brought dead,” police said.
The spokesperson said the cordon in the entire area has been strengthened with the help of reinforcements and the search operation is underway.
“Tantray was earlier a terrorist associate of LeT and was involved in various crimes regarding which cases were registered. He was also detained under the Public Safety Act (PSA) from June 2019 to December 2019,” the spokesperson said.
Meanwhile, three “hybrid terrorists” were arrested in Srinagar, police said Sunday.
“Army (2RR) and Srinagar Police arrested three hybrid terrorists along with a huge consignment of 03 AK rifles, 02 Pistols, 09 Magazines & 200 rounds from outskirts of Srinagar,” Kashmir Zone Police said on Twitter.
An investigation is going on in the matter, they said.
Moreover, during the preceding night, on a specific input regarding the presence of illegal arms and ammunition in the residential house of one Rafaqat Hussain Shah, son of Syed Akbar Shah of Panjtaran Karnah area of Kupwara, a joint cordon and search operation was launched by police and Army’s 6-JAKRIF.
During the search operation, a huge cache of arms and ammunition including one pistol, two pistol magazines, 16 pistol rounds, two hand grenades, two detonators, and other incriminating materials were recovered from the said house.
In this regard, a case under relevant sections of law has been registered and further investigation is in progress, a police spokesperson said.
