Attack on BJP leader’s home carried out by 4 LeT militants, 2 identified: IGP Kashmir
Srinagar, Apr 01:
A policeman was killed in a militant attack at the residence of a Bharatiya Janata Party leader in Srinagar on Thursday. He was one of the personnel guarding the residence of BJP leader Muhammad Anwar Khan at Aribagh, Nowgam in Srinagar.
The slain policeman was identified as Rameez Raja.
He was at his security post at Khan’s house when the militants attacked, and he was critically injured. Raja and other guards manning the post retaliated, but the militants managed to escape.
Raja was rushed to the hospital where he was declared brought dead.
The attack has left residents of the area shaken. A large number of security forces reached Aribagh post the incident to look for possible clues about the attackers.
BJP’s media in-charge Manzoor Bhat said that militants attacked Khan’s house who is the party’s district president for Baramulla and in-charge for Kupwara district. “Khan is safe,” he said.
BJP’s J&K spokesman Altaf Thakur said that he spoke to Khan over phone. “Khan is safe, the attack has been foiled,” he said.
Meanwhile, The terrorist attack on the home of a BJP leader in Nowgam area on Thursday that left his police guard dead was carried out by four Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) militants, a senior police officer said, asserting the attackers would be neutralised soon.
Cop Martyred
Kashmir Inspector General of Police (IGP) Vijay Kumar said two of the four have been identified, and they are from Srinagar city.
Kumar said one of the four militants was wearing a ‘Burqa’ (veil) and imitated a woman’s voice while asking the guard at the residence of the BJP leader Anwar Ahmad to open the main door.
“There was one sentry on the main door and two cops in the guard room. As is clear from the CCTV footage, one terrorist wearing a ‘Burqa’ knocked on the main door and asked, imitating a woman’s voice, for opening it,” the IGP told reporters on the sidelines of a wreath-laying ceremony of the slain cop — Rameez Raja — at the Police Control Room here.
Kumar said when the sentry opened the door, two other militants fired indiscriminately on him and the fourth one decamped with his rifle.
“The militants came and fired indiscriminately, resulting in the on-spot death of the jawan,” he said.
The IGP said two militants out of the four have been identified.
“Initially, we thought the one wearing a ‘Burqa’ was a lady, but when we analysed the CCTV footage closely, we found that it was not a lady, but a male and a terrorist. Two out of the four have been identified and are from Srinagar city.
“They belong to the LeT outfit. One of them is Shahid Khurshid Dar. He is from Chanapora and is a categorized terrorist. The other is Obaid Shafi Dar. They both joined the LeT last year along with four others,” he said.
“We will neutralise them soon after generating pinpoint intelligence,” the IGP added.
He said security forces have been conducting several operations in the last three months, but “there has not been much success”.
“We will increase the (anti-militancy) operations and strengthen the intelligence gathering and will soon neutralise them,” Kumar said.
