Hybrid ultra killed in Anantnag, three others nabbed in Srinagar

Srinagar, November 20

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A hybrid terrorist of Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT), accompanying a police party for identifying a hideout, was killed in an encounter between security forces and militants in Anantnag district on Sunday, the police said. In another operation, three hybrid militants were arrested in Srinagar.

The deceased has been identified as Sajad Ahmad Tantray, alias Furqan, a resident of Shirpora in Kulgam. He was involved in the killing of a non-local labourer at Rakhmomen in Anantnag’s Bijbehara on November 12, a police spokesperson said. After his arrest, he had confessed his involvement in the labourer’s killing during interrogation. At his instance, a pistol used in the commission of the terror crime was recovered, the spokesperson said.

No accountability whatsoever, says Mehbooba

• Hours after the Anantnag encounter, PDP president Mehbooba Mufti said the “same story was repeated in Jammu and Kashmir and there is no accountability whatsoever”.
• In a tweet, she stated, “The same story is repeated where an alleged militant is taken to a hideout and subsequently shot at under mysterious circumstances.”

Grenades, firearms seized in Kupwara

• During a search operation in Kupwara’s Karnah area, two grenades, a pistol, two magazines and 16 rounds were seized from a house.
• The militants caught in Srinagar were found possessing three AK rifles, two pistols, nine magazines and 200 rounds.

Tantray also revealed information about the presence of terrorists in Bijbehara’s Cheki Duddo area following which a search operation was launched. As the search party approached the hideout, it came under heavy firing from the hiding terrorists and Tantray was critically injured. He was immediately shifted to a hospital in Bijbehara where doctors declared him brought dead. The spokesperson said the cordon in the entire area had been strengthened with the help of reinforcements and the search operation was underway. Tantray was earlier a terrorist associate of the LeT and was involved in various crimes regarding which cases were registered. He was also detained under the Public Safety Act (PSA) from June to December 2019, the spokesperson said.

Meanwhile, the three hybrid militants who were arrested in Srinagar were found possessing arms and ammunition. The Army and the police have seized three AK rifles, two pistols, nine magazines and 200 rounds. The matter is being investigated.

Hybrid terrorists are not listed as militants but are radicalised enough to carry out terror strikes before slipping back into routine life.

In Kupwara, security forces have seized a huge cache of arms and ammunition from the house of one Rafaqat Hussain Shah, a resident of Panjtaran in Karnah. A pistol, two pistol magazines, 16 pistol rounds, two hand grenades, two detonators and other incriminating materials were recovered. — PTI

Shot by militants

Sajad Ahmad Tantray was arrested for killing a labourer in Bijbehara on November 12. According to the police, he was leading a police team to a hideout when militants opened fire at them, killing Tantray.