Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Feb 5: Three militants were killed in a shootout while a Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel was martyred on the National Highway at Lawaypora on the outskirts of Srinagar today.
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The shootout took place at Lawaypora on the outskirts of Srinagar on Srinagar-Baramulla National Highway when three persons were coming from Baramulla towards Srinagar. They were stopped by the security forces for normal checking after they got suspicious about them but one of them fired on the troops leading to a brief shoot out in which two militants were killed and a CRPF jawan was martyred. Another militant who was injured latter succumbed to injuries.
Director General of Police, Dilbag Singh, told a press conference that the special naka party of Srinagar-Baramulla highway was fired up by the militants who were riding a two-wheeler. “In the retaliation two terrorists were killed and one was injured who later succumbed to injuries”, he said.
ADG CRPF Zulfikar Hassan said that in the morning, at around 11 am, a special naka was placed at Lawaypora by the 73 Battalion of CRPF after inputs from the Jammu and Kashmir Police that there could be possible attacks on Wednesday.
“A two-wheeler came from Baramulla side and when they reached near the naka, they were asked to stop, because they were not wearing helmets as well as their age profile made us think that they should be checked. When they were flagged down, the last pillion rider got down took out pistol from his pheran and started firing”, said the ADG.
He said that one of the CRPF jawan who was at the naka was hit in the head, and inspite of getting hit, he fired back and in the meanwhile, the second person on the scooter also started firing.
“The naka party retaliated and fired back, resulting in the death of two of the militants on the spot; the third militant was also shot, but he was alive and later arrested. There has been substantial recovery from three of the militants, sophisticated weapons as well as grenades,” he said.
He added that the security forces on the naka acted very swiftly and cautiously while they resorted to controlled firing given the fact that there was a lot of traffic movement along the highway and made sure that no civilian was injured. ‘The alert forces have averted a major terror incident in the city of Srinagar. The party on the ground shall be appropriately rewarded”, he added.
IGP Kashmir, Vijay Kumar, identified the three militants as Zia ur Rehman, Khateeb and Fayaz Umar. “Rehman who belonged to district Budgam was affiliated with LeT. He was involved in many activities and there are many FIRs which are registered in his name”, he said.
“Another one is Khateeb from Bijbehara and was affiliated with Hizb. Third was is Fayaz Umar affiliated with ISJK. This is for the first time that we have seen that three militants belonging to three different outfits were together. The fact that we have been saying that the different outfits are working in coordination was proved true today”, the IGP said.
DGP Singh said that the month of January has been full of anti-militancy operations during which a great operational success was achieved. “Those killed in Jammu, a large cache of arms and ammunition was recovered from them and it seemed that they were planning something big in coming days”, he added.
He said that over the time more than 20 militants have been eliminated including those in Jammu. “A good number of modules have also been busted in the last month. The fact the Jaish was planning something big ahead of 26 January can be proved by the fact that the module that was busted in Srinagar had direct links with Qari Yasir, who was killed in an encounter. These operatives were roaming around with readymade suicide vest”, he added.
“The group which was intercepted today was out for some action as the pistol of one of the militants was ready and as soon as he got down, he started firing-which means that they were ready”, the DGP said.
Singh said that the recent grenade attack near Pratap Park suggested that there are still some terror modules working in the city. “In order to flush them out, we are carrying on with our work as we have got certain clues and the attackers will soon be nabbed”, he added.
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