Two local militants of The Resistance Front (TRF) were killed in a pre-dawn operation on Friday in Srinagar’s Alamdar Colony, taking the number of militants gunned down so far this year to 78.
“Acting on specific information, a joint cordon and search operation was launched at Alamdar Colony, Danmar area, Srinagar. Terrorists were given opportunities to surrender, however, they fired indiscriminately. Two terrorists of self-claimed TRF of the Lashkar-e-Taiba were killed,” Inspector General of Police Vijay Kumar said.
The police identified the slain militants as Irfan Ahmad Sofi and Bilal Ahmad Bhat, both residents of Natipora. “They were active since December, 2020,” the police said. The TRF recently shared on the social media that Irfan and Bilal had left it and joined the Islamic State-J&K.
“The duo was behind the killing of the PSO of a Peoples Democratic Party leader in 2020, killing of two CRPF jawans in 2021. Besides, they killed an on-leave police official, constable Javid Ahmad, near his residence at Saidpora on June 22, 2021 and Inspector Parvez Ahmad at Nowgam . They were behind the killing of a civilian, Umer Nazir Bhat, at his shop in Habba Kadal,” the police said.
The duo was “instrumental in motivating and recruiting the youth to join terror folds in Srinagar and its adjoining areas”.
The police recovered incriminating materials, arms and ammunition, including one AK-47 rifle, one pistol and four grenades, from the encounter site.
“Seventy-eight terrorists have been neutraliSed in the Kashmir Valley this year so far. Thirty-nine terrorists out of 78 belonged to the LeT, followed by the Hizb-ul-Mujahideen, the Al-Badr, the Jaish-e-Muhammad and the Ansar Gazwat-ul-Hind,” Mr. Kumar said.
