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Among 4 terrorists killed in Kashmir, 2 new recruits who shot dead Amreen Bhatt
The Kashmir Police said 10 terrorists including 3 from JeM (Jaish-e-Mohammed) and 7 from LeT proscribed terror outfits have been neutralised in the last three days
Srinagar: Four suspected terrorists including two freshly-recruited Lashkar-e-Taiba operatives involved in the killing of TV artiste Amreen Bhatt were killed in two encounters in Srinagar and Awantipora, a senior police officer said in Kashmir.
Shahid Mushtaq Bhat of Hafroo Chadoora, Budgam and Farhan Habib of Hakripora, Pulwama were shot dead by security personnel at the end of a long-drawn gunfight in Awantipora’s Aghanzipora area on Wednesday night. Police said the terrorists started firing at them as soon as the joint search party comprising personnel from the army, Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and J&K Police laid a cordon around a cluster of houses.
Inspector general of police, Kashmir, Vijay Kumar said the two had recently joined Lashkar-e-Taiba and were involved in the killing of artist Amreen Bhat in the Chadoora area of Budgam on the directions of top LeT commander Lateef.
Ambreen Bhatt, 35, an artiste who worked in television shows and music videos, was shot dead and her 10-year-old nephew injured on Wednesday when three LeT terrorists opened fire in Kashmir’s Budgam district.
The second encounter started after a small police team launched a cordon and search operation in Srinagar’s Soura area on an intelligence report about the movement of terrorists from south Kashmir to Srinagar.
The two terrorists killed in the operation were identified as Shakir Ahmad Waza and Afreen Aftab Malik, both of Trenz Shopian.
“As per police records, both the killed terrorist were categorized terrorists and were part of groups involved in several terror crime cases including attacks on police and security forces. Incriminating materials, huge cache of arms & ammunition was recovered from both the sites of encounter,” a police statement said
Vijay Kumar congratulated the joint teams.
“These operations as a big success and said that during past three days 10 terrorists including 3 from JeM (Jaish-e-Mohammed) and 7 from LeT proscribed terror outfits have been neutralised in the Kashmir valley,” Kumar said.
The Srinagar Police also arrested Nasir Ahmad Dar of Gund Brath Sopore, a LeT operative, at a security checkpoint in the city’s Bemina area. One pistol, one magazine and five rounds were seized from his possession. Police said the suspect was involved in delivering pistols for targetted killings.
