LET hybrid terrorist killed in Anantnag encounter: Cops
Was accompanying a police party to identify a terrorist hideout, killed in cross-fire
SRINAGAR: A Lashkar-e-taiba (LET) hybrid terrorist, accompanying a police party for identifying a hideout, was killed during an encounter with militants in Anantnag district of Jammu and Kashmir on Sunday, police said.
The hybrid terrorist, Sajjad Tantray, a resident of Kulgam, had been arrested in connection to the killing of a non-local labourer earlier this month. The Kashmir zone police claimed that their search party had taken Tantray for identification of a terrorist hideout in Cheki Duddo area of Bijbehara in Anantnag district when the hiding militants opened fire.
“When the search party reached near the suspected hideout, terrorists opened fire, which hit one accused hybrid terrorist of LET Sajjad Tantray of Kulgam, who was with the search party for identification of the hideout,” the police said in a series of Tweets.
Tantray was rushed to the sub-district hospital in Bijbehara where doctors declared him brought dead,” the cops said.
He was arrested following the attack on two non-local labourers on November 13 at Rakhmomen, Bijbehara in Anantnag. Later, one of the labourers, Chota Prasad, a resident of Gorakhpur, UP, succumbed to his injuries after battling for his life at a hospital for five days.
“During investigation,tantray, who was earlier a terrorist associate of the LET and released from detention under the Public Safety Act revealed that he had attacked the two labourers,” the police said, adding that the pistol used to shoot the two victims and the vehicle used to execute the crime had been recovered from the accused.
The police said that the accused also confessed to knowing about the presence of militants at Cheki Duddo area of Bijbehara, following which a joint cordon and search operation was launched by the Police and Army (3RR).
“While the search party approached the suspected hideout identified by the accused, they came under heavy fire from the hiding terrorists, in which Tantray suffered critical gunshot injuries,” the police spokesperson said, adding that cordon in the whole area had been strengthened with the help of reinforcements and a search operation was in progress.
PDP president Mehbooba Mufti questioned the killing of Sajad Tantray in the encounter
Asaying it was another case with no accountability.
“Another Kashmiri accused of being a hybrid militant is killed in police custody. The same story is repeated where an alleged militant is taken to a hideout and is subsequently shot at in mysterious circumstances. No accountability whatsoever, “she said in a tweet.
On October 19, the police had said that hybrid militant Imran Bashir Ganie of Hermain Shopian, who was accompanying a search party of security forces for identifying a hideout, was injured when militants fired on the search party.
He was taken to a hospital where he was declared brought dead.