Srinagar, July 25: Security forces foiled a terrorist attack in Srinagar on Saturday as they gunned down two terrorists on the city’s outskirts. Searches operations are underway to flush out any remaining terrorists in the area.
On Saturday morning, Special Operation Group (SOG) of J&K police, 29 Rashtriya Rifles and Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) cordoned off Ranbirgarh on Srinagar-Bandipora road after they received specific inputs about the presence of terrorists.
“The joint team of SOG, RR and CRPF were fired upon by the hiding terrorists,” a senior police officer said. “The fire was returned and in ensuing gunfight two terrorists were killed.”
One of these terrorists eliminated on Saturday was a top LeT (Lashkar-e-Taiba) commander whom police has identified as Ishfaq Rashid resident of village Sozeith, Srinagar.
“He was one of the top LeT commanders active since 2018 and wanted in many cases of terror violence,” a senior police officer told News Intervention. He added that the other terrorist killed in the encounter was Aijaj Bhat, an important LeT (Lashkar-e-Taiba) cadre from Pulwama district of south Kashmir.
Inspector General of Police, Kashmir Zone Vijay Kumar confirmed the killing of two terrorists in Srinagar. He said identities and group affiliations of the slain terrorists are being ascertained. Vijay Kumar said that operation is underway to flush out the remaining terrorists, if there are any.
Police source told News Intervention that terrorists were most probably trying to enter inside the Srinagar city to carry out out an attack. However, they were killed before they could create any mayhem in the valley.
After the killing of these two terrorists, the total number of terrorists neutralised by Indian security forces in Kashmir has risen to 143.