New Delhi: One of the four terrorists killed in Jammu on Wednesday morning is suspected to be senior Jaish-e-Mohammed commander Ashiq Ahmad Nengroo, alleged to have been a key perpetrator in the Pulwama bombings, the police have told ThePrint.
“We have sent DNA samples for verification,” a senior police official said. Police sources said a gunfight broke out between the security forces and the terrorists — travelling in a truck — around 7:00 am on Wednesday.
The encounter came hours before Home Minister Amit Shah was poised to chair a meeting in Delhi on the security situation in Jammu and Kashmir.
Jammu Kashmir Director-General of Police Dilbagh Singh was expected to attend the meeting, along with Intelligence Bureau Director Tapan Deka and Union Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla.
Giving details about the morning encounter, a police source said the terrorists started shooting at the search team as soon as they flagged down the truck at a check-post. All four of them were killed in retaliatory fire, though the driver managed to escape, the source said. He added that the truck, which had a fake registration number, caught fire during the shootout.
The police recovered arms and ammunition from the truck — seven AK rifles, one M4 carbine, three pistols and other slugs. Sources in the police also said the terrorists could have been travelling to Srinagar.
Senior Superintendent of Police Chandan Kohli said the matter was under investigation, and that teams were looking for the absconding driver. Kohli refused to divulge any detail about the terrorists’ affiliation.
On Tuesday, the Udhampur police defused a 15-kg improvised explosive device (IED) averting a major terror attack in Jammu.
According to the police, a cylindrical IED, 300 to 400 grams of RDX, seven 7.62-mm cartridges and five detonators were recovered on Monday.
A coded sheet and a letterhead page suspected to belong to the banned terror outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) was also recovered. A suspect was detained and the police were investigating his links.
Earlier this month, the National Investigation Agency, NIA, put up posters seeking information about four militants from the LeT offshoot, The Resistance Front (TRF). The four include two Pakistani nationals. An award of Rs 10 lakh has been announced for each of the militants.
While Saleem Rehmani alias “Abu Saad” from Nawab Shah, Sindh, and Saifullah Sajid Jatt from Shangamanga in Kasur are Pakistani nationals, Sajjad Gul and Ahmad Dar are from Srinagar and Kulgam respectively.
Also known as “Langda”, or Sajid-the-Lame, Saifullah Sajid Jatt is believed to be the LeT commander in the valley. Earlier last year, a unit operating under the terrorist killed five soldiers in Poonch and four near Mendhar.
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