Srinagar Oct 12 ; On a specific input of Srinagar Police regarding presence of militants in Rambagh area of Srinagar, a joint cordon and search operation was launched by Srinagar Police and CRPF in the said area.
During the search operation, as the presence of militants got ascertained they were given opportunity to surrender after evacuating all civilians. However they fired indiscriminately upon the joint search party which was retaliated leading to an encounter.
In the ensuing encounter, two militants of LeT outfit were killed and their bodies were retrieved from the site of encounter. One among the killed militants has been identified as top LeT Commander Saifullah (a Pakistani National) while as second identified as Irshad Ahmed Dar @ Abu Usama residents of Pulwama who was active since May 2019 and involved in several innocent killings and attacks on Police/SFs.
As per police records, militant Saifullah infiltrated earlier this year and since two months shifted his base from north to south Kashmir. He was involved in planning & executing several major terror attacks on forces which includes killing of a CRPF officer at Chadoora on 24/9/20 and 02 CRPF personnel at Kandizal area of Pampore on 5/10/20. He was also part of the group involved in killing of two police men at Nowgam Srinagar on 14/8/20. Besides his was also involved in firing on convey on 21/9/20 in Nowgam area.
Incriminating materials including arms & ammunition were recovered from the site of encounter. All the recovered materials have been taken into case records for further investigation and to probe their complicity in other crimes.
The dead bodies of the killed militants shall be sent to Baramulla for their last rites after conducting medico-legal formalities including collection of their DNA. In case any family claims the other killed militant to be their kith or kin, they can come forward for their identification and participation in last rites.
In this connection a case under relevant sections of law has been registered and investigation has been initiated.DGP JK, IGP Kashmir and IG CRPF appreciated the role of Police and CRPF for conducting operation without any collateral damage in press conference.
People are requested to cooperate with police till the area is completely sanitized and cleared of all the explosive materials, if any.
