Srinagar: On a day multiple militant attacks rocked the Valley, security forces on Friday gunned down a top Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) ‘commander’ and his accomplice on the outskirts of Srinagar, days ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s scheduled poll rally.
The duo were killed in Soura on the city outskirts when they were trying to enter Srinagar “to carry out a major strike in the coming days”.
Police said the duo tried to flee when their car was stopped at a check-point at 90-feet road (Ahmadnagar) in Soura but were chased and in the ensuing gun battle, LeT ‘commander’ Qari Israr was gunned down.
One AK-47 rifle was recovered from him.
The other militant, who took shelter in a cowshed of a nearby house, was also shot down after a brief exchange.
In the exchange of firing between the security forces and the holed-up militant, a grenade exploded inside the cowshed which caused fire, Inspector General of Police (Kashmir) Abdul Ghani Mir said, adding some weapons and explosives were recovered from the spot.
Mir said they had inputs about a militant module having entered Srinagar to carry out a major strike in the coming days.
“We developed the input and accordingly set up check-points,” he said, adding the two slain militants were part of the module tasked with carrying out a big strike in coming days.
“We see it as a major success ahead of the Prime Minister’s visit. The threat has been eliminated,” he said.
Asked about the sudden spurt in militant attacks, Mir said the militancy in Kashmir has not ended. “There is still residual militancy in the Valley which we are dealing with.”
The Prime Minister is scheduled to address an election rally at Sher-e-Kashmir Cricket Stadium here on December 8.
The security across the city has already been beefed up with security forces carrying out random searches of vehicles entering the city. (PTI)
