Srinagar (NVI): With the killing of three terrorists in an encounter in Pulwama today, the Jammu and Kashmir Police said it has solved the case of attack on a BJP leader’s house yesterday in which a policeman was killed.
Inspector General of Police (IGP), Kashmir Range, Vijay Kumar, said two of the three terrorists killed this morning in the encounter in Ghat village of Pulwama district in Kashmir were involved in the attack on the house of BJP leader Anwar Khan in Nowgam yesterday.
Khan was not at his residence when the attack took place but a constable Rameez Raja on sentry duty was killed in the firing by the terrorists yesterday. The terrorists decamped with the SLR rifle of the slain cop.
Kumar said four terrorists were involved in the Nowgam attack and two of them were killed in the encounter today. The attack on the BJP leader’s house was carried out jointly by the Lashkar-e-Taiba and Al-Badr outfits, he said.
From the terrorists killed in Pulwama encounter, the security forces recovered the rifle which had been snatched from the slain policeman at Nowgam, the IGP said.
He said the vehicle used by the Nowgam attackers was also recovered and it belongs to the owner of the house in which the terrorists were hiding in Ghat village and got killed in today’s encounter. The vehicle owner will be booked under Unlawful Activities and Prevention Act (UAPA), Kumar said.
The IGP said the police got the information about the terrorists from an overground worker who was arrested after yesterday’s attack in Nowgam.
The hiding terrorists were asked to surrender but they chose to fire at the security forces and even took five civilians hostage, Kumar said.
All the slain terrorists were locals, two of whom had joined terrorism in February this year and one last month.
From their possession, an AK-rifle, one pistol and the SLR rifle were recovered.
He said the recovery of the SLR rifle confirms that they were involved in the Nowgam attack.
Two other terrorists involved in the Nowgam attack, both of whom belong to LeT outfit, are still on the run, Kumar said, adding efforts are on to hunt them down.
