A Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorist, who was involved in an attack near a tunnel construction site in Jammu and Kashmir's Gagangir in October, was killed in an encounter with security forces in the Dachigam forest area in Srinagar on Tuesday.
The encounter took place in the upper Hawan area near the Dachigam forest, where Junaid Ramzan Bhat was killed and one US-made M4 carbine rifle was recovered from the site. Dachhigam, a national park on the outskirts of Srinagar, covers an area of about 141 square kilometres.
The security forces, acting on specific intelligence inputs, launched a cordon-and-search operation in the upper reaches of Dachigam on Monday night, officials said, according to PTI. At around 10 pm, contact was established with the terrorists, leading to an exchange of gunfire after the terrorists fired at a search party of the security forces who then retaliated.
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Bhat was killed in the exchange of fire on Tuesday morning. Bhat, a category A terrorist of the Lashkar-e-Taiba, was wanted for his alleged involvement in the October 20 attack near a tunnel construction site in the Gagangir area of Ganderbal in which a local doctor and six non-local labourers were killed.
Junaid Bhat, the LeT commander from Kulgam, South Kashmir, had been active for several years. The October 20 attack at Gagangeer, Sonamarg, had claimed the lives of six construction workers and a doctor. The Resistance Front (TRF), linked to Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba, had claimed the responsibility for the attack.
This is the second such encounter in the area in Srinagar in recent months. On November 10, a brief gunfight occurred in the Ishber Nishat forest area following an intelligence-based cordon and search. However, the militants had managed to escape.
Since then, search operations have been intensified in the Zabarwan Hills, which connect Tral, Ganderbal, and Bandipora regions.