LeT Top Commander Among 2 Dreaded Terrorists Killed by Security Forces in Srinagar

In a significant breakthrough, two dreaded terrorists were killed by security forces in an encounter which lasted more than 13 hours in Srinagar, Kashmir. A Pakistani terrorist who is yet to be identified was killed along with Lashkar-e-Taiba top terror commander Abrar Nadeem Bhat. Two AK-47 rifles were also recovered from the site of the encounter.

Abrar was involved in several killings of security forces as well as innocent Kashmiri civilians along with his other terrorist accomplices. Earlier in March, he was responsible for a terror attack in Lawaypora of Srinagar in which two Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel were killed. Abrar was active in Lashkar since December 2018 and was a resident of Narbal in Budgam of Central Kashmir.

Confirming the development to CNN-News18 just before 6am on Tuesday morning, Inspector General of Police (IGP) Kashmir Vijay Kumar said, “Jammu & Kashmir Police (J&K Police) had a specific input about terrorists carrying an attack on highway. Keeping in view the seriousness of the input, a few joint nakas of J&K Police & CRPF were in place along the highway.”

“On Parimpora naka, a vehicle was stopped and their identity was asked. The person sitting at the back seat tried to open his bag and took out a grenade. The Naka party swiftly swung into action and grabbed the person sitting at the back seat. Both the driver and the person sitting at the back seat were taken into police station where after taking off his mask it was identified that he was a terrorist Abrar, a top LeT Commander”, Kumar further told CNN-News18.

Abrar at this point was put to joint interrogation by J&K Police, CRPF and the Indian Army. One pistol and hand grenades were also recovered from his possession.

“On his sustained interrogation by the joint teams of J&K Police, CRPF and the Indian Army, he disclosed that he had kept his AK-47 rifle in a house located at Melhoora. Thereafter he was taken to that house to recover the weapon. When the party was entering the house to recover the alleged weapon, one of his associate (a foreign terrorist about whom he didn’t disclose anything) hiding inside the house fired on the party”, Kumar said.

In the initial exchange of fire between terrorists and security forces, 3 CRPF personnel got injured and the said terrorist Abrar accompanying the search party got hit. The injured personnel of CRPF were evacuated and the rest of the party took position and called for immediate reinforcements. Kashmiri Civilians were rescued by security forces before launching a full scale operation.

The house was cordoned immediately by additional troops of J&K Police, CRPF and the Indian Army and the fire was further retaliated. In the gunfight that followed, a Pakistani terrorist who fired from inside the house got neutralised and Abrar also got killed.

Aditya Raj Kaul is Contributing Editor, News18 group with more than a decade long experience in covering Conflict, Foreign Policy, and Internal Security. He can be reached at [email protected]

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