3 terrorists behind attack on Srinagar policeman arrested

Arjun Sharma

Jammu, December 17

The J&K Police have arrested three hybrid terrorists of a terror module, reportedly involved in the attack on a policeman in Bemina area of Srinagar on December 9. Director General of Police (DGP) RR Swain on Sunday said the terror module behind the attack on Muhammad Hafiz Chak last week had been busted. Hafiz had survived the attack. The accused have been identified as Imtiyaz Ahmed Khanday and Danish Ahmed Malla, both residents of Bemina, besides Mehnan Khan of Rainawari.

Swain said the module had been tasked by its Pakistan-based handler Hamza Burhan with killing off-duty policemen in Srinagar. Hamza hails from Pulwama.

Arms seized

• Canik TP09, a Turkey-made pistol, a magazine and a round seized from Imtiyaz, another CanikTP09, a magazine and seven rounds seized from Mehnan Khan.
• From Danish, 57 rounds and two magazines have been recovered. They were affiliated with the Lashkar-e-Toiba.

Key conspirator Resident of same locality

• According to DGP RR Swain, one of the terrorists, Danish Ahmed Malla, lived in the same locality of Bemina as the policeman.
• He had recruited Imtiyaz and Mehnan and managed to get firearms for them. They followed the cop for days before the attack.

Danish, who lived in the same locality as the policeman, recruited Imtiyaz Khanday and Mehnan Khan. “They managed to get pistols and followed him for several days before carrying out the attack. The pistol used in the attack has been recovered at the instance of Khanday who had fired the bullets,” he said. It was Imtiyaz who had opened fire towards Hafiz at Hamdaniya Colony, Bemina, as the latter was on his way home after performing his duty. Swain said Danish Malla was the mastermind who hatched the conspiracy. Six bullets were fired towards the constable out of which two pierced through his body and one hit his spine which was later removed by doctors through a surgery.

After the attack on the cop, an FIR was filed in the Bemina police station. An investigation has been going on since then. The police have scanned CCTV cameras and gathered digital evidences.

The DGP said the weapon used in the crime was Turkey-made Canik TP09 pistol. It has been seized. Besides, a magazine and a round was recovered from Imtiyaz. Another CanikTP09 was recovered from Mehnan Khan. One magazine and seven rounds were also seized from him. From Danish, 57 rounds and two magazines were recovered. The terrorists were affiliated with the Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT). The police have also found a list of policemen which the terrorists had been preparing to attack in the near future. The DGP said there were other people as well on the hit list but most of them were policemen.

Asked if the arrested men had any hand in the killing of Inspector Masroor Wani, the DGP said the case was being investigated by the NIA. “That case is still under investigation, the NIA has taken over the investigation. I think it will be inappropriate to prematurely start connecting the two cases,” he said.

“We are seeing a pattern and a trend... this category of small arms is being brought into Jammu and Kashmir through drones and through a variety of other means, being smuggled into our side from Pakistan,” he said.

The DGP further said Turkish pistols might have been smuggled into J&K through drones or other means. “Such weapons being light in weight are easy to carry due to which terrorists were using them,” he said. According to the police, hybrid terrorists are those who carry out attacks and then slip back into their routine lives. They are trained in firing and lobbing grenades. Such terrorists are difficult to be identified. (With PTI inputs)

Inspector’s killing under probe

Asked if the arrested men had any hand in the killing of Inspector Masroor Wani, DGP RR Swain said the case was being investigated by the National Investigation Agency. “I think it will be inappropriate to prematurely start connecting the two incidents,” he added.

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