Have recovered militants’ diary, phone: J&K Police
PHONE AND DIARY YIELDED REFERENCE TO THREE LOCAL MILITANTS AND OVERGROUND WORKERS WHO HELPED THEM IN THE ATTACK
SRINAGAR : A day after a civilian driver was killed and three soldiers injured in an ambush attack in Shopian district of Jammu and Kashmir, police said on Friday that it has recovered a mobile phone and a diary belonging to the militants.
The militants had attacked the soldiers when they were returning after a massive daylong search operation in the district.
Speaking to Hindustan Times, superintendent of police, Shopian, Tahir Khan, said that police had recovered a mobile phone and a diary belonging to the militants who carried out the attack on Thursday night. Apart from these, empty cartridge and a magazine were also recovered.
He added that the phone and diary yielded reference to three local militants and a number of over-ground workers who had helped the militants in reaching the spot and carry out the attack.
“Abbas, Ishfaq Ahmed Thokar and Giyas-ul-Islam are the names we have found. We have also found some other links which establish that these three are behind the attack,” Khan said. The hunt for the militants is on, police said.
Meanwhile, the local media said hundreds of people attended the funeral prayers of the civilian driver Nazir Ahmad Sheikh, who was driving the private vehicle hired by the army. Sheikh was laid to rest at his ancestral graveyard in Kachdoora, Shopian.
Following intelligence inputs about the presence of militants, the cordon and search operation was started in Shopian early Thursday morning.
Reports said that as troops were returning after a 12-hour search operation in Shopian and carrying out a “reverse sweep” of Chowdari Gund and Kellar area of Shopian, militants attacked them.
‘Reverse sweep’, reports had said, is a term used by the army in which they carry out a surprise check of a location after having combed it earlier in the day.
The operation, for many Kashmiris, brought back memories of the 1990s when such massive door-to-door searches were common in the Valley.
Some locals had alleged vandalism by forces during the search but police has denied it.