A foreign terrorist from Pakistan along with his local associate,belonging to the proscribed terror outfit Lashkar-e- Tayyeba (LeT) were neutralised by the joint teams of security forces in Sirhama area of Anantnag on Friday.
The operation in the area was launched late on Thursday evening after receiving inputs about the presence of these terrorists in the area.
According to a police spokesman, “ Due to darkness the operation was suspended in the area while a tight cordon was maintained to plug the escape routes”. He said, “In the wee hours, the operation was resumed and in the ensuing encounter two terrorists were killed and their bodies were retrieved from the site of the encounter”.
The police spokesman said the killed terrorists have been identified as Adil Ahmad Bhat resident of Pulwama and Abu Rehan @Towheed a Pakistani national. Both the killed terrorists were commanders and affiliated with proscribed terror outfit LeT.
According to police records, Adil was involved in case FIR No. 117/2020 of PS Nowgam pertaining to the killing of two JKP personnel and weapon snatching at Nowgam Srinagar on 14-08-2020. An Insas rifle snatched in Nowgam attack was also recovered from the encounter site.
According to a police spokesman, Pakistani terrorist Abu Rehan was an important motivator and influenced young minds for joining terror ranks in the areas of South Kashmir. He was involved in motivating local youth to carry out ‘fidayeen’ attacks on Police/SFs. He was also involved in providing logistic support to the newly infiltrated terrorists and strengthening the LeT outfit throughout the valley by distributing newly joined/infiltrated terrorists to various areas.