Srinagar: Police on Monday said that two militants, one of them a top Lashker-e-Toiba militant and another foreigner, were killed in as many gunfights in Shalimar area in the outskirts of Srinagar city.
“Police alongwith (CRPF and army) neutralized two (militants) including top most wanted militant Saleem Parray of Hajin in two separate successive operations at Shalimar area in the outskirts of Srinagar city,” a police spokesman said in a statement.
He said based on specific input generated by Police regarding presence of militant in Harwan/Shalimar area, a search operation was launched by Police and CRPF in the area.
“During the search operation, the search party was fired upon indiscriminately by hiding militant, which was effectively retaliated, leading to a brief shootout and killing of Saleem Parray, linked with LeT.”
He said soon after it, another operation was carried out by Police, CRPF alongwith Army in Gasu area under police station Zakoora,” he said, adding, “During the operation, one foreign (militant) identified as Hafiz alias Hamza of Pakistan linked with LeT was neutralized.”
As per the police records, he said, Saleem Parray was a categorized militant and was active since 2016 and was wanted in several 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, killing of Hilal Ahmad Parray at Parray Mohalla Hajin on 16/05/2018. Besides, he was also involved in throat slitting of many civilians in Hajin area.”
He was also involved in providing logistic support to the militants operating in the area to carry militant attacks, police said.
While interacting with media persons, IGP Kashmir said that Pakistani militant Hafiz alias Hamza was involved in several cases including recent killing of two policemen at Gulshan Chowk Bandipora on 10 December last year.
“After this incident, he shifted to Harwan area of Srinagar due to frequent cordon & search operations in Bandipora area,” he said, adding, “He was also involved in killing of a CRPF personnel at Hajin Bandipora, killing of a civilian namely Nadif Hanief Khan of Bilal Colony Soura in Buchpora.”
Moreover, he said, both the killed militants were also involved in attack on search party of Police/SFs in Hajin in which one police personnel constable Zaheer Abbas was killed.
“IGP Kashmir congratulated police and SFs for conducting successful operations without any collateral damage,” the spokesman added. (GNS)