Three terrorists, including one of the commanders of The Resistance Front (TRF), believed to be involved in the killing of two minority school teachers, were gunned down by the jawans of the Jammu and Kashmir police in a brief encounter near Rambagh area of Srinagar late Wednesday evening.
According to the preliminary reports the terrorists were travelling in a private car when they were intercepted by the police teams in the middle of the road. In the brief exchange of fire all three terrorists were neutralised.
The vehicular movement also remained suspended till the time police authorities cleared the area. Several local residents stepped out of their homes and shouted pro-Azadi slogans while the security forces shifted the dead bodies to the police control room for an identification parade.
Inspector General of Police, Kashmir range Vijay Kumar told a Delhi based news agency, "one of the three terrorists killed in the encounter has been identified as Mehran. The identities of two others was yet to be established". Kumar said Mehran, a 'C' category terrorist, was involved in the killing of a school principal and a teacher in the month of October in Srinagar.
Highly placed sources in the Jammu and Kashmir police also revealed the name of TRF terrorist commander Mehran Yaseen Shalla had surfaced during a high level security review meeting chaired by the Union Home Minister. While briefing the Union Home Minister senior police officers had named Mehran as one of the TRF commanders behind the targeted killings. Directions were given to the security forces to identify and neutralise perpetrators of terrorist violence involved in the targeted killings of minorities in the Kashmir valley.
Till the time of filing the report the police had not released any official statement as the identities of two other slain terrorists were yet to be ascertained.