In a Covert Operation JK Police Eliminates Two Wanted Terrorists in Srinagar

The Jammu and Kashmir Police Monday carried out a well-planned encounter operation in which two most wanted terrorists were eliminated in Srinagar.

The terrorist duo was wanted for several killings of the civilians and the security force personnel- besides killing of several political activists, they were involved in the killing of Advocate Babar Qadri who was shot dead at his residence in Srinagar last year.

The operation to eliminate the terrorists was kept secret and only a handful of officers were informed about the same, the team that carried out the operation was also handpicked by the senior officers who planned and executed the operation.

They were the self-claimed chief of The Resistance front (a frontal outfit of Lashkar-e-Toiba) Abbas Sheikh of Kulgam and his second in command who was self-claimed district commander of the LeT Saqib Manzoor.

Sources told News 18 that the police have been following the activities of the terrorists for the past few days and they came to know that they used to visit the Khad Factory ground in Alochi Bagh to watch a soccer game.

They also used the opportunity to brainwash the youth to pick up guns and join terror ranks.

However, before the operation was planned and executed it was ensured that there was zero collateral damage and two terrorists after being surrounded are given ample opportunity to surrender.

“In a specific int based operation, Srinagar police eliminated two big commanders of LeT working under the cover of TRF. They were responsible for most of the civilian and SF killings in Srinagar city for the past one year. Abbas sheikh was acting as chief commander of TRF and Saqib was Distt Commander Srinagar. Big success” (sic), Director General of Jammu and Kashmir Police Dilbag Singh told CNN News18.

Acting on specific input generated by Srinagar Police about the presence of terrorists in Alochi Bagh area of District Srinagar, an operation was planned by IGP Kashmir, DIG Central Kashmir range and SSP Srinagar.

“A special and small team of Police was sent in covert and the team raided a specific location. During the raid, the hiding terrorists were given the opportunity to surrender; however, they started firing on the police team. Our team also retaliated. In a brief shoot out, two terrorists of proscribed terror out LeT (TRF) were neutralized”, he said.

Inspector General of Police, Kashmir Zone said that as per police records, both the killed terrorists were involved in killing of several political workers, police personnel and civilians.

“Saqib Manzoor was involved in the killing of Advocate Babar Qadri last year. Besides, both the terrorists were also involved in several grenade attacks on security establishments and were also involved in several other terror crimes and civilian atrocities. They were also involved in reviving terror folds in district Srinagar and in the process recruited seven youths into terror ranks in District Srinagar among them four stands already neutralized”, he added.

Earlier Abbas Sheikh was a HM terrorist, arrested and released twice. Later on he joined LeT (so-called TRF as chief). There are several terrorists and OGWs in his relationship.

The IGP said that recently, a Sarpanch Gh Rasool Dar and his wife, a panch of BJP, were killed in Anantnag on the direction of Abbas Sheikh. Deceased BJP leader and Abbas Sheikh were from the same area in the Kulgam district.

The police stated that incriminating materials including arms and ammunition were also recovered from the spot. “All the recovered materials have been taken into case records for further investigation and to probe their complicity in other terror crimes. In this connection, Police have registered a case under relevant sections of law and further investigation is in progress”, Singh said.

He added that Srinagar had become a terrorist-free District in September last year but after Abbas Sheikh’s shifting to Srinagar city, he motivated and recruited Saqib and 6 other youths from the city into terror rank.

“So far, four terrorists of the city have been killed in different encounters”, he said.

IGP Kashmir has yet again made a fervent appeal to misguided youth who have joined terror ranks and also requested their family members to appeal to their misguided kin to shun the path of violence and return to the mainstream, we will welcome and accept them with open arms.

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