Srinagar: Three terrorists were neutralised by the security forces and police in Rambagh area of the city on Wednesday. According to officials, the ultras were killed in a brief shootout near the Rambagh bridge on Lal Chowk-Airport road.
One of the three terrorists killed in the encounter in Srinagar's Rambagh has been identified as Mehran, a top The Resistance Front (TRF) commander who was involved in the killing of two teachers & other civilians in the city, Kashmir IG Vijay Kumar told news agency ANI.
Later on, Kashmir Police revealed the identity of all three terrorists killed in the encounter.
Three terrorists killed in Srinagar encounter today have been identified as TRF commander Mehran Yaseen Shalla (resident of Srinagar), Manzoor Ahmad Mir (Pulwama), and Arafat Ahmad Sheikh (Pulwama), Kashmir Police said.
The gunbattle between terrorists and security forces took place after a joint team of the police and the army cordoned off the area and launched a search operation on the basis of specific information about the presence of terrorists.
It was when the security forces zeroed in on the spot where terrorists were hiding, they came under a heavy volume of fire and retaliated, triggering the encounter.
Three militants included a self-styled commander of terror outfit TRF, wanted in the recent civilian killings in the city. The militants were shot dead as they tried to escape, officials said.
Apart from Shalla, a resident of the Jamalata area of the city, the other two slain militants are Manzoor Ahmad Mir and Arafat Sheikh, both residents of Pulwama, they added.