Search operations continue across Kulgam to track down Lashkar-e-Taiba militant Mohammed Lateef Bhat, the lone active local terrorist in south Kashmir, after injured CRPF jawans identified him from photographs following Wednesday’s ambush near Mir Bazar that left three personnel wounded.
Director general of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), Gyanendra Pratap Singh, also visited Kulgam, interacted with officials and later reviewed the security situation.
Police have also questioned around 200 overground workers in the district as joint forces comb the adjoining forest belt for Bhat and his suspected foreign accomplice. Officials said all those picked up were released after initial questioning.
Officials have also obtained CCTV footage of the two militants escaping after they targeted the CRPF jawans on Wednesday. Though the jawans tried to chase them, the attackers managed to escape via the main road.
“We got sufficient clues that one of the attackers was Lateef Bhat, who is the only local militant active in the area. Even the CRPF jawans who saw the attackers fleeing confirmed that Bhat was one of the attackers,” a senior police officer said.
For the past five months, security forces, especially the police, have been trying to trace Bhat after his name cropped up in two attacks in July, first when a policeman was killed in Anantnag and later when three labourers were killed at a brick kiln in Kulgam. In Kulgam also, eyewitnesses had identified Bhat as the main attacker, officials said.
{{/usCountry}}For the past five months, security forces, especially the police, have been trying to trace Bhat after his name cropped up in two attacks in July, first when a policeman was killed in Anantnag and later when three labourers were killed at a brick kiln in Kulgam. In Kulgam also, eyewitnesses had identified Bhat as the main attacker, officials said.
{{/usCountry}}Bhat has been on the run ever since J&K Police announced a reward of ₹ 15 lakh for information about him, after he was suspected to be behind the attack on two labourers in Kulgam in July.
Police said the 22-year-old Bhat is a resident of Khrewan, Chadder, Kulgam and is affiliated with Lashkar-e-Taiba. Police and other security forces have launched a series of operations to track him down. Officials said Bhat, along with another militant, could have attacked the CRPF personnel who were on naka duty.