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Srinagar: Four terrorists were killed in two ongoing operations in the frontier Kupwara district of Kupwara and Kulgam district of south Kashmir, Inspector General of Police, Kashmir Zone, Vijay Kumar said Sunday.
KUPWARA GUNFIGHT
A Police spokesman said that the operation in the Chandigam area of Lolab started after the joint parties of Police and 28 RR of the Army swooped on a hideout in the forest on the information provided by Showkat Ahmad Sheikh of Shopian.
The spokesman said that Sheikh was first arrested by the Police in an IED blast case in which a soldier was killed and another injured.
He said that Police arrested Sheikh after recovering 7 kg of narcotic substances and two live IEDs from him.
The spokesman said that during his sustained interrogation, he confessed about the hideout in Chandigam.
He said that Sheikh was also trapped in the ongoing Chandigam operation.
“It seems the group had infiltrated long ago and Sheikh too was trapped there,” IGP Kashmir told Greater Kashmir. “We believe that at least two terrorists besides Sheikh are trapped inside the hideout.”
A Police spokesman said that on the disclosure of Sheikh it along with the 28 RR of the Army launched a joint operation in the forests of Chandigam Lolab area of Kupwara.
“During the search of a hideout, the hiding terrorists started firing indiscriminately upon the joint search party which was retaliated effectively leading to a gunfight. In the initial exchange of fire, a terrorist was killed and the arrested terrorist leading search party got trapped,” the spokesman said. “In the ensuing gunfight, so far two Pakistani terrorists of Lashkar-e-Toibia were killed. Heavy exchange of fire is still going on and operation is in progress.”
KULGAM GUNFIGHT
A Police spokesman said that at 3:30 pm, based on specific input generated by Police regarding the presence of terrorists in DH Pora, Kulgam, Police and 9 RR of the Army launched a joint Cordon and Search Operation (CASO) in the area.
“As the joint search party approached the suspected spot, the hiding terrorists fired indiscriminately at the search party which was retaliated leading to a gunfight. Later on, CRPF also joined the operation. In the ongoing gunfight, two local terrorists have been killed so far. They have been identified as Haris Sharief of Srinagar and Zakir Padder of Kulgam,” the spokesman said. “As per the Police records, the killed terrorist Sharief was linked to LeT while Padder was linked to JeM. Both were part of groups involved in several terror crime cases including attacks on Police and security forces and civilian atrocities.
He said that both the operations were still on.
