Alert sounded in Srinagar city
Fayaz Bukhari
SRINAGAR, Mar 10: Inspector General of Police Kashmir, Vijay Kumar, today said that police pre-empted and averted two Improvised Explosive Device (IED) blasts in South Kashmir and arrested several persons including a student who was motivated to carry out car bombing.
While addressing a press conference today, Kumar said that a blast was being planned using a vehicle by four persons. “One Sahil Nazir of Pampore, a BA first year student, was motivated through Telegram. He revealed that he had bought an old vehicle (JK01E-0690) to be fitted with explosives, which was being brought from North Kashmir,” said Kumar.
The IGP said that the police also arrested his other associates, including Kaiser Ahmad from Pampore, Mohammad Fayaz and Yasir Ahmad Wani. “Sahil Nazir also gave a confessional statement, in which he has said that he carried out a grenade attack on CRPF at Pampore on January 25. IED was to be received from North Kashmir,” he added.
In another preventive operation, Kumar said police nabbed militants who were planning to carry out a major blast at the MC building Awantipora at the behest of one Omar Khanday, who joined the Lashkar-e-Toiba in October 2020 and killed two policemen at Baghat Chowk.
“We arrested one Musaib Ahmad Gojri of Nalbal Pampore and upon interrogation he revealed that there is a container containing 25 kilogramme ammonia powder at his home. He also revealed the names of two more associates Muneeb Mushtaq Sheikh and Shahid Ahmad Shah. Later we recovered the material from his home. They also revealed that other parts required for making the bomb were to come from North Kashmir,” Kumar said.
He added that police have received a tip-off about presence of The Resistance Front (TRF) chief Abbas in Chanapora area of Srinagar after which an alert has been sounded.
“We received inputs about Lashkar (TRF) chief Abbas’s presence in Chanapora area of Srinagar. An alert has been sounded and active vigil is being maintained,” he said.
The IGP said frisking has been intensified and all means of intelligence are in active mode.
Regarding the stone-pelting incident at Jamia Masjid, Srinagar, Kumar said that Police are not going to tolerate such incidents at all. “In this regard, the Srinagar police have acted swiftly and have registered an FIR”, he added.
“15 individuals have been identified through the video and have been arrested. Out of 15, around 12 will be booked under PSA; the identity of some of them could not be ascertained yet, but we are on it. A total of 39 arrests have been made so far regarding the incident”, the IGP said.
“Regarding the sticky bombs, Jammu police has done a great job, but in Kashmir, we have been carrying out searches, but have not been able to find any; we have alerted the forces on the ground and in that we have made few changes in the SOPs as well”, he said.
On the killing of Al-Badr Chief, Kumar said that Sopore police received information that Gani Khwaja and two of his associates were hiding in a house in Tujjar area of Sopore. “The Sopore police informed the Army and CRPF and after reaching the spot, the police were joined by the Army and the CRPF”, he added.
“When the cordon was launched, the security forces were fired upon which then led to the encounter. During that Gani Khwaja was killed, while two of his associates fled from the encounter site before the cordon was launched”, he said.
“Gani Khwaja had gone to Pakistan for training in the year 2000 and came back in the year 2002, and after that, remained active for 5 years in North Kashmir. He was arrested in the years 2005 and was booked under PSA. Then, he was released in the year 2008. He was working as on OGW from 2008 to December 2017 and then from January 2018 he became active all over again”, he said.
“In August 5, 2019, he left the Hizbul Mujahideen and became the chief of Al-Badr. It is a reality that after 2020, the Al-Badr was reactivated with active support from Pakistan. All the terrorist belonging to Al-Badr who were killed, were all recruited by Gani Khawaja. He was also tasked to receive new militant groups from Pakistan in Handwara, Kupwara and also used to take them places in the south and north Kashmir”, Kumar said.
“It is a great success for the security forces as he was the main person who used to provide logistics and also, he was the person who used to decide whom to attack. I would like to congratulate the Sopore police, army and CRPF for killing him without any collateral damage”, the IGP said.
2 JeM militants trapped
Security forces this evening trapped two militants of Jaish-e-Mohammad in a village in Anantnag district of South Kashmir.
Inspector General of Police Kashmir, Vijay Kumar, said that a joint team of Police, Army’s 3RR and CRPF launched a cordon and search operation in Kandipora area of Bijbehara after specific information to Police about the presence of at least two militants of JeM.
The militants fired upon troops during the operation, triggering a gunfight. Kumar said that the operation has been put on hold due to darkness but the security cordon has been tightened.
All exits points have been sealed and lights installed to prevent militants from escaping as they have turned down the offer to surrender.
The mobile internet services have been snapped in the entire district.
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