LeT terrorist involved in terror attack that led to 7 civilian deaths killed: Police

The Indian Army’s Chinar Corps said a joint operation was launched by the army and the Jammu and Kashmir police at upper reaches of Dachigam forest

SRINAGAR: A Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terrorist allegedly involved in a deadly attack at a tunnel construction site in central Kashmir’s Gagangeer in October that led to the death of seven workers has been killed in a gunfight in a forest area of Srinagar on Tuesday, police said.

Security forces patrol near the site of a gunfight in Dachigam forest area of Srinagar (HT Photo/Waseem Andrabi)

The gunfight started in the Dachigam, a national park on the outskirts of Srinagar, during a joint search operation by the police and army following information about the presence of terrorists on the intervening night of Monday and Tuesday.

In a post on X, the Indian Army’s Chinar Corps said a joint operation was launched by the army and the Jammu and Kashmir police at upper reaches of Dachigam forest, Srinagar, following an intelligence input. It later said one terrorist was killed in the operation.

In a post on X, the Kashmir Zone Police linked him to multiple terror attacks including the one at Ganderbal on October 20. “In the on-going operation at Dachigam, one terrorist was killed and has been identified as Junaid Ahmed Bhat (LeT, Category A). The said terrorist was involved in civilian killings at Gagangeer, Ganderbal and several other terror attacks,” it said.

Seven unarmed people, labourers and staffers of a contractor working on a tunnel for the strategic Srinagar-Leh national highway, were killed when terrorists opened indiscriminate fire at Gagangeer in Gund area soon after the workers returned to the campsite in the evening.

The attack was the deadliest on civilians in Jammu and Kashmir since the June 9 incident in Reasi when nine pilgrims were killed after the bus they were in plunged into a valley when it came under gunfire from terrorists.