Lashkar Terrorist Among 2 Killed In Srinagar Encounters, Say Police

Two terrorists, including wanted Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) member Salim Parray, were killed in two encounters with security forces here on Monday, police said. Another dead terrorist was a Pakistani national, they added.

A search operation was launched by the J-K Police and the CRPF in the Harwan area on the outskirts of the city, a police spokesman said.

During the operation, the security forces' party was fired upon indiscriminately by a hiding terrorist, he said.

The fire was effectively retaliated leading to a brief shootout in which terrorist Salim Parray, linked with the banned terror outfit LeT, was eliminated, the spokesman said.

"Srinagar police neutralised dreaded terrorist of proscribed terror outfit LeT Salim Parray," IGP, Kashmir Zone, Vijay Kumar said.

Another encounter broke out between terrorists and security forces at nearby Gasu village, police officials said.

"One militant was killed in the operation," they said.

The spokesman, in a statement, said, "Soon after the said (Harwan) operation, another operation was carried out by Police, CRPF along with Army in Gasu area under PS Zakoora."

"During the said operation, one foreign terrorist identified as Hafiz @Hamza of Pakistan linked with proscribed terror outfit LeT was neutralized." As per the police records, Parray was a categorised terrorist and active since 2016, the spokesman said.

"Parray was wanted by law in several terror crime cases. He was involved in several civilian killings including killing of Bashir Ahmad Dar and his brother Ghulam Hassan Dar at Shahgund Hajin on 05/05/2018."

"He was also involved in the killing of Hilal Ahmad Parray at Parray Mohalla Hajin on 16/05/2018," the spokesman said.

"Besides, he was also involved in throat-slitting of many civilians in Hajin area. He was also involved in providing logistic support to the terrorists operating in the area to carry out terror attacks," he added.

The spokesman said the Pakistani terrorist was involved in several terror crimes, including the killing of two policemen at Gulshan Chowk, Bandipora on December 10.

He had shifted to Harwan after the killings, the spokesman added.

"He (Hamza) was also involved in the killing of a CRPF personnel at Hajin Bandipora, killing of a civilian namely Nadif Hanief Khan of Bilal Colony Soura in Buchpora," he said.

The spokesman said both the killed terrorists were also involved in an attack on a security forces' search party in Hajin in which one police personnel, constable Zaheer Abbas, was killed.