Terrorists linked to killing of sarpanch gunned down
SRINAGAR: Two terrorists involved in the killing of a sarpanch last month were gunned down in an encounter in the Tral area of Pulwama district, the Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) police said on Wednesday.
According to a police spokesperson, a raid was conducted by security forces in Tral based on specific inputs indicating the presence of terrorists in the area.
“During the raid, as the search party proceeded towards the suspected spot, the hiding terrorists fired indiscriminately upon the search party, which was retaliated effectively, leading to an encounter. In the ensuing encounter, one terrorist was neutralized and another was holed up,” the spokesperson said, adding that reinforcements from the Army (42RR) & 180Bn CRPF reached the encounter site and joined police. “The joint team later neutralized the second terrorist and the bodies were retrieved from the site of encounter,” the spokesperson said.
Police identified the deceased as Umar Nabi Teli alias Talha of Ladoo Khrew and Shafat Muzaffar Sofi alias Muavia of Batagund Tral.
“Before shifting to Tral area, both the killed terrorists were involved in several terror crimes in Srinagar city, includPolice ing the recent killing of a Sarpanch (Sameer Ahmad) in Khanmoh, Srinagar,” the police spokesman said.
Inspector General of Police, Vijay Kumar, said that both Sofi and Talha were operating in Srinagar. “After civilian and soft target killings, they shifted to Tral area and were tracked and neutralised,” he said. said that the deceased duo were linked with Ansar ul Gazwatul Hind (AuGH) and Lashkar-e-Taiba. They were involved in several terror crime cases, including attacks on security forces and civilian atrocities, the spokesperson said.
“Moreover, both the killed terrorists were attempting to revive the terror folds by being instrumental in motivating gullible youth to join terror folds. Incriminating materials, arms and ammunition were recovered from the site of encounter,” the spokesperson added.
Night patrolling hiked
Security forces have increased night patrolling in the Valley, in light of the increase in attacks on soft targets, Jammu and Kashmir IGP, Vijay Kumar, told reporters here.
“Night patrolling has been enhanced and joint patrolling of police and security forces is being carried out with security forces in vulnerable areas,” said IGP Kumar in response to a question about the recent attacks on civilians in the UT.