‘Saifullah infiltrated this year, shifted base from north to South Kashmir two months ago, He was involved in Kandizaal, Pampore attack, Ops will take time’: IGP
Srinagar 12 October (KNB): In the ongoing encounter, two militants including a Lashkar-e-Toiba commander from Pakistan and a local militant from South Kashmir is trapped in Barzulla area of Srinagar, Inspector General of Police (IGP) Kashmir zone Vijay Kumar said.
Talking to reporters near the encounter site, the IGP said that two militants including LeT commander Saifullah and another local militant from Sout Kashmir are trapped and the operation is going on.
“Saifullah was involved in the attack on CRPF on September 24 in which ASI of CRPF was killed. He was also involved in the killing of two CRPF men and injuring three at Kandizaal, Pampore,” the IGP said.
He said that Saifullah had infiltrated into Kashmir this year only and was first operating in north Kashmir and since past two months he was operating in South Kashmir.
“No militant has been killed yet and the operation is underway. It will take time as we are avoiding collateral damage,” the Kashmir Police chief said.
He said that yesterday evening, police received specific input about the presence of Lashkar commander Saifullah and a local militant from South Kashmir. “We laid a cordon and the militant got trapped,” he added.
He also mentioned that civilians were evacuated from the area which is congested.
“We offered them to surrender as that’s part of our Standard Operating Procedure (SoP), but they refused and fired triggering a gun-battle,” the IGP said. (KNB)