Security force gunned down two Lashkar-e-Taiba militants including a Pakistani national - who were part of a group sent to attack the Amarnath yatra - in Srinagar on Tuesday, police said. Five police personnel were also injured in the encounter, they said. The slain terrorists have been identified as Abdullah Goujri, a resident of Faisalabad Pakistan, and Adil Hussain Mir alias Sufian alias Musab, a resident of Anantnag, a police spokesperson said.
Both are linked with the proscribed Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and were being tracked continuously after they had earlier escaped from an encounter in Sopore. Acting on specific information regarding the movement of the terrorists in the Bemina area of Srinagar, police established a special checking point there, a police spokesman said. During checking, the two suspects started indiscriminate firing at the police party, he said.
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In the initial exchange of fire, five police personnel received minor injuries and were immediately evacuated to the hospital, the spokesman said. The two terrorists were killed in the ensuing encounter and their bodies were retrieved from the site, he said. The spokesman said Mir had crossed over to Pakistan in 2018 on a visit visa from Wagah. IGP Kashmir Vijay Kumar said the two were part of a group sent by Pakistan to attack the annual Amarnath Yatra.
The Pakistan-based terror handlers had sent two Pakistani LeT terrorists along with Mir with the directions to carry out attacks on Amarnath Yatra. However, all the three terrorists have been killed in two separate encounters - one at Sopore and two at Bemina, Srinagar, Kumar said. The IGP appreciated the role of police in tracking and neutralising the terrorists who had recently escaped in the Sopore encounter.
"'It is a big success for us as they were planning to attack Amarnath Yatra. However, the prompt and timely action by the police led to the elimination of both the terrorists and thereby averting the possible major threat," he said. "Incriminating material, arms and ammunition, including two AK-47 rifles, 10 magazines and 165 live cartridges, matrix sheets, Pakistani medicines, etc were recovered from the site of the encounter," the spokesman said.
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