Advisor, DGP pay tributes to slain police officer
Srinagar, Aug 30: Three Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) militants and an Assistant Sub Inspector (ASI) of J&K police were killed in an encounter in the summer capital, Srinagar on Sunday.
Director General of Police (DGP), Dilbag Singh said that the militants were given ample opportunity to surrender and even their parents were brought to the encounter site to persuade them to give up arms. A video in which parents of two of the three slain militants are urging their sons to surrender is also doing round on social media.
Meanwhile, expressing grief over the death of the ASI, the DGP said that Babu Ram was an encounter special and had played key role in numerous anti-militancy operations in the valley.
Giving details, Singh said that three motorcycle borne militants attacked a joint party of police and CRPF at Panthachowk in the city outskirts late last night. “The militants tried to snatch weapons from the jawans after firing several shots. But alert troops foiled the attempt and chased them,” he told reporters on the sideline of wreath laying ceremony here on Sunday.
Singh said as the militants were being chased, they ditched their motorcycle and tried to flee on-foot in Dobi Mohalla.
He said the entire area was immediately cordoned off with the help of reinforcements and a search operation was launched.
The DGP said when security forces were moving towards a particular area, militants hiding there, fired at them. “The security forces retaliated ensuing in an encounter,” he said, adding a militant was killed while an ASI was critically injured in the initial exchange of fire.
Singh said the injured officer, identified as ASI Babu Ram, was immediately taken to a hospital where he succumbed. “Ram has been associated with SOG team for a long time and had played key role in numerous anti-militancy operations in the valley,” he added.
Singh said that the parents of the remaining to militants were brought to the encounter site, where they tried to persuade their sons to surrender. “This was despite the fact that we had lost a brave jawan. But we still gave them the opportunity to surrender,” he said.
However, he said the firing again started and in the exchange of fire both the militants were killed on Sunday morning.
He said one of the slain militants was a commander and was active in the area for some time now. “The slain militant is involved in many attacks,” he said, adding all the three militants belong to LeT.
He said one AK-47 rifle and pistols were recovered from the encounter site.
Official sources said that the militants have been identified as Sakin Ahmad, Umar Tariq and Zubair Majeed.
Advisor, DGP pay tributes to ASI Babu Ram
Rich tributes were on Sunday paid to Assistant Sub Inspector (ASI) of Jammu and Kashmir police Babu Ram who made supreme sacrifice during an encounter at Pantha Chowk in Srinagar early this morning.
Three militants were also killed in the encounter.
Advisor to Governor R R Bhatnagar, Director General of Police (DGP) Dilbagh Singh, Inspector General of Police (IGP) Vijay Kumar and other senior Central Paramilitary Force (CPMF), police and civil officer paid floral tributes to ASI at wreath laying ceremony held at District Police Lines (DPL), Srinagar.
