Mubashir Bukhari
Srinagar (NVI): J&K DGP Dilbagh Singh today said that around 20 militants have been eliminated this year in Jammu and Kashmir while asserting that some terror modules are still active in Srinagar who show their presence by targeting security establishments.
In a joint presser with Inspector General of Police (IGP), Vijay Kumar, IGP and DG CRPF, Zulfiqar Hasan, the DGP said that this year many successful anti-militancy operations were carried out and many militant modules were busted.
“Different modules were busted in this year till now. Today’s operation was a part of an alert. The city population is always on the target of militants,” the DGP told reporters.
The J&K top cop was referring to an encounter on the outskirts of Srinagar today in which two militants were killed while one CRPF jawan also lost his life.
He also said the J&K Police wishes this summer to be peaceful. “We are hoping that this summer will be different and law and order situation improves,” he said.
DGP Singh also said that VPNs are misused in Kashmir. “We resumed 2G Internet services bur VPNs ruined it. When a truck carrying Jaish militants at Nagrota Jammu was intercepted, the trucker had sent pictures of encounter to Pakistan as a matter of evidence using VPN,” he said.
The DGP also said the forces were on alert to “respond to the grenade throwers.”
“City population and security establishment are always on the target of militants. Even after busting many of their modules, some are still left, which became evident after Pratap park incident,” he said
The DGP said the police has got some clues to work on after the Pratap park incident. “As a countermeasure, police and security forces are alert. We will quickly reach to grenade throwers and arrest them,” he said.
Singh said the investigation over grenade throwing module suggested that “these operatives were connected to Jaish-e-Mohammad militant outfit operating from Tral in south Kashmir.”
“The five Jaish operatives who were caught last month were connected to Qari Yasir, Jaish provincial commander who was killed in Gulshanpora tral last month. The IED making material and readymade suicide vests suggested that they were conspiring some suicide attack-type of January 26,” he said.
Giving details on today’s gunfight, Singh said that in city outskirts on Srinagar-Baramulla highway, a special party of CRPF was fired by militants who were riding two-wheelers in which two militants and a CRPF man got killed.
He said the third militant, who was injured in a shootout is being treated. One slain militant was identified as Zia-ul-Rehman of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) militant group. He hails from Budgam district of Kashmir.
Another slain militant has been identified as Khatib, a resident of Bhijbehara area of south Kashmir. He is affiliated with Hizbul Mujahideen (HM) militant group. The third militant who was caught alive has been identified Fayaz Omar, a Srinagar resident and is affiliated to JKIS.
“A large quantity of arms and ammunition including two pistols and grenades were recovered from them,” DGP said.
He said there was a heavy rush on the highway but security forces maintained great caution to ensure there was no collateral damage.
CRPF DG Zulfiqar Hasan said that they had inputs that militants were planning to attack forces today. “A scooter came from Baramulla carrying three people. They were stopped as they were not wearing helmets. When they were cracked down by a constable of CRPF, one of the persons got down immediately and took out his pistol and attacked and started firing. One jawan was hit on the head and he succumbed. Two militants were killed on the spot and the third one was also shot and was shifted to hospital,” Hassan said.
