A tech-savvy junior police officer died in an encounter with militants in north Kashmir’s Bandipora district on Wednesday afternoon. Heading a Special Investigating Team (SIT), the slain officer Altaf Ahmad Dar was pursuing militants in a private car when he was attacked.
Sources said that mastermind of the August 5 attack on Border Security Force (BSF) convoy Abu Qasim of lashkar-e-Tayyeba (leT) outfit attacked the police officer before fleeing from the scene. A massive cordon and search operation has been launched to track him down.
Informed sources said that Dar, a resident of south Kashmir’s Kulgam district, was associated with counter-insurgency wing of police in Srinagar and had gained tremendous expertise in using technology to track down militants. On Wednesday he received exclusive input on the movement of Abu Qasim in Bandipora and he left in a private car to pursue the information. Sources said that such was the accuracy of the information that Dar followed the vehicle in which Qasim was traveling. A naka had already been established in Gund Dachin village where police had planned to intercept the militants.
However, a few furlongs before the naka, militants stopped their vehicle and blocked the car in which Dar was traveling. Before Dar could react, they opened a volley of fire injuring him grievously.
He was shifted to a 92 Base Hospital in Srinagar where he succumbed to his injuries.
Chief Minister Mufti Muhammad Sayeed, Opposition leader Omar Abdullah and DGP K Rajindra laid wreaths on his coffin at Police Control Room.
Sources said Dar was planning to capture Abu Qasim alive but the Pakistani ultra managed to give them a slip by inflicting heavy casualty.
According to leT militant Usman alias Qasim Khan, who was captured alive in Udhampur attack that resulted into death of two BSF men and a militant, Abu Qasim was the mastermind of the attack. Qasim was based in south Kashmir and had shifted his base to north recently, apparently on his way to cross the line of Control (loC).
Sources said massive operation has been launched in Bandipora area to track him down. The operation continued till last reports came in from the area.
The incident occurred on a day when Rajiv Mehrishi, Union Home Secretary, accompanied by Ashok Prasad, Secretary Internal Security arrived here to assess the security situation. The duo met with Governor N N Vohra at the Raj Bhavan and held discussions on a wide range of issues relating to Internal Security management.