The weapon has been sent to a forensic laboratory in Chandigarh.
KNZ NEWS DESK
The US-made M4 carbine recovered from a gunfight site in southern Tral area recently has been sent for forensic examination to find out if the same weapon was used during the recent sniping attacks in Kashmir, the police said Wednesday.
According to the police, the M4 carbine with a night vision device fitted on top of it, was recovered from Jaish-e-Muhammad militant Usman—the nephew of the outfit’s founder Moulana Masood Azhar—who was killed during a gunfight in Tral on October 30. Usman died along with a local JeM militant Showkat Ahmed. The police had claimed that the duo was behind sniping attacks that left at least three forces’ personnel dead.
“As per procedures in vogue, whenever a new weapon is recovered, it is sent for forensic testing. We have been doing it in the past also,” additional director general of police (law and order/security), Munir Khan told Greater Kashmir.
“Let the forensic report come. It will help us find out whether the same gun (M-4) was used in the recent standoff attacks. We will corroborate the forensic report with other evidences collected from the sites where the forces personnel were killed,” he said.
The weapon has been sent to a forensic laboratory in Chandigarh.
A police source said evidences collected from sites of attacks included empty cartridges.
He said it was not for the first time that M-4 gun has been recovered from Jaish militants operating in Kashmir.
“In November last year, such a weapon was recovered from the possession of Talha Rashid, the first nephew of JeM chief Moulana Masood Azhar, who was killed in Kashmir,” he said.
The general officer commanding of army’s Srinagar-based 15 corps, lieutenant general AK Bhatt had recently said that M-4 gun recovered at Tral encounter site was not a sniper.
Talking to reporters on the sidelines of a function at Budgam, the GoC had said that M-4 was a weapon that has the capacity to fire from a distance.
According to the police, three “standoff attacks” took place in Kashmir’s Tral, Pulwama and Nowgam (Srinagar) areas, killing three forces personnel.
