Srinagar, January 8
Security forces killed two Laskhar-e-Taiba (LeT) militants involved in shootouts and an IED blast in Srinagar in an encounter in the Khrew area of Awantipora district today.
The Srinagar police had inputs about the presence of militants and it was joined by the Army in the operation. The entrapped militants fired upon the advancing party, but were killed in the retaliatory fire. The police said the slain militants had been identified as Altaf Ahmad Mir, alias Mohsin, of Awantipora and Zahoor Ahmad Mir, alias Haroon, of Pulwama.
It said both militants were earlier associated with the Hizbul Mujahideen and were part of a breakaway group that had joined the LeT in mid-last year and had been instrumental in strengthening the LeT. They had developed a strong base in Srinagar and south Kashmir.
Both were wanted in the Kathidarwaza IED blast case in Srinagar, in which two policemen and a woman were killed, and the Pampore shootout last month in which two policemen were killed.
They had caused a car blast at Kathidarwaza on the Central Jail road on September 12 last year, targeting a police bus.
