Srinagar, Dec 03: Jammu and Kashmir police on Tuesday confirmed that the terrorist killed in the ongoing encounter in Dachigam was responsible for the Gagangir attack on October 20, which claimed the lives of seven civilians. The slain terrorist has been identified as Junaid Ahmed Bhat, an ‘A’ category operative of the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terror outfit. Bhat had been active in the region for several months.
A police official stated that Bhat was involved in the killing of civilians in Gagangir, Ganderbal, as well as several other terrorist incidents. “The terrorist was responsible for the deaths at Gagangir and other attacks,” the official said.
The ongoing operation, which is still underway in the upper reaches of Dachigam, is being carried out by J&K Police, along with the Rashtriya Rifles (RR) and other security forces. Further details will be shared as the operation progresses.
The encounter began as a search operation and turned into a gunfight when terrorists opened fire on a search party of security forces. In the exchange of fire on Tuesday morning, Bhat was killed.
Bhat, a wanted terrorist, was allegedly behind the October 20 attack near a tunnel construction site in Gagangir, Ganderbal, in which a local doctor and six non-local labourers were killed, with five others injured.
Following specific intelligence inputs about the presence of terrorists in the upper Dachigam area of Srinagar, joint teams of police and security forces launched a search operation. Contact was made with the terrorists, which resulted in the ongoing gunfight.
