LeT terrorist involved in Ganderbal tunnel attack gunned down

A Lashkar-e-Toiba terrorist, allegedly involved in an attack near a tunnel construction site in Ganderbal in October, has been killed in an encounter on the outskirts of Srinagar, the police said on Tuesday.

On receiving a tip-off, security forces had launched a cordon-and-search operation in the upper reaches of the Dachigam forest on the city outskirts on Monday night.

The search operation turned into an encounter after terrorists fired at the security forces, who retaliated. In the exchange of fire on Tuesday morning, a terrorist identified as Junaid Ahmed Bhat was killed, the police said.

Bhat, a category “A” terrorist of the Lashkar-e-Toiba, was wanted for his alleged involvement in the October 20 attack near a tunnel construction site in the Gagangir area of Ganderbal in which a local doctor and six employees of Apco Infratech were killed, the police added. Apco Infratech was constructing the Z-Morh tunnel near Sonamarg in Central Kashmir’s Ganderbal district.

“OP Dachigam: In the ongoing operation, one terrorist is killed and has been identified as Junaid Ahmed Bhat (LeT, Category A). The said terrorist was involved in civilian killings at Gagangir, Ganderbal, and several other terror attacks,” the Kashmir Zone Police said in a post on X.

Sources said the police had inputs about the presence of a group of militants in the Dachigam forest close to the Zabarwan range of the Himalayas where a gunfight took place between militants and security forces last month. The militants had managed to escape, taking advantage of the dense forest.

Police sources suspect that the two terrorists who attacked the construction firm’s camp in Ganderbal were hiding in the forests since then. The Dachigam forest, about 20 km from Srinagar, is also connected to Ganderbal and South Kashmir.

The sources said Bhat, a Lashkar militant from south Kashmir’s Kulgam, had gone missing in 2023 after he joined the Lashkar’s shadow group The Resistance Front.

After the Ganderbal attack, he was identified as one of the two attackers from the CCTV footage.

During Tuesday’s gunbattle, a US-made M4 carbine was also recovered, the police said, adding that the operation was still underway in the upper reaches of Dachigam.

Category ‘A’ militant

• Junaid Ahmed Bhat, a category “A” terrorist of Lashkar-e-Toiba, was wanted for his involvement in the October 20 attack near a tunnel construction site in the Gagangir area of Ganderbal
• A local doctor and six employees of Apco Infratech construction firm were killed in the attack