Excelsior Correspondent
Srinagar, Oct 7: A police officer was killed in a gun battle at Gund Dachin area of Bandipora in North Kashmir today after he intercepted a vehicle in which militants including divisional commander of Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT), Abu Qasim, was travelling.
Reports said that there was information with North Kashmir Police for last few days that LeT commander and most wanted militant in Kashmir valley, Abu Qasim, is in Bandipora to receive a group of militants in the area.
Yesterday Army and police had launched a major operation against him and his associate. The operation against him was going on in the area and security forces had established nakas at several places.
In the meantime, a police team from Srinagar headed by Sub-Inspector, Altaf Ahmad, was also chasing Abu Qasim and they had information that he was travelling from Srinagar to Bandipora in a TATA 407 vehicle.
On reaching Gund Dachin area in the district, the Police team opened fire and tried to intercept the vehicle in which militants were travelling. However, the militants retaliated, triggering a brief shootout.
In the brief gunfight, a Sub-Inspector of police, Altaf Ahmed Dar a resident of Zangalpora Kulgam, was seriously injured and was rushed to a nearby hospital for treatment. He was airlifted to Srinagar for treatment but died on way to BB Cantt Hospital due to blood loss.
Altaf, who headed a special Investigation Team (SIT) Rajbagh Srinagar, was investigating the militancy related cases. He was travelling in his own car in civvies when he was shot at.
The militants, fled from the scene, leaving behind the TATA 404 load Carrier bearing registration No JK05E-1096. The vehicle was seized by the police.
Soon after the incident, SOG, Army and CRPF cordoned off the whole area and launched massive hunt to nab the militants. Meanwhile, Army has also used helicopters to locate the militants in the area. The cordon and search operations were going on in several parts of the area. Reports said that entire forest area has been cordoned off and searches in the villages in the area will be also conducted against these militants.
Security forces have got information about the movement of two armed militants, one of them Qasim, from nearby villages in the area.
Abu Qasim is the mastermind behind Udhampur attack on Border Security Forces (BSF) that took place two months ago. He was wanted by National Investigating Agency (NIA) and has Rs 10 lakh on his head. His network has been weakened over the past two months as large number of his Over Ground Workers have been arrested and LeT militants were killed in South Kashmir.
A resident of Kulgam, the police officer was known among locals as Altaf Computer and Altaf Laptop, presumably for his computer knowledge being an expert to track militant activities. The officer is survived by wife and two kids.
Chief Minister, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, deeply mourned the death of Altaf and expressed solidarity with the bereaved family and prayed for peace to the departed soul.
The Chief Minister visited Police Control Room, where he laid floral wreath on the mortal remains of the police officer.
Former Chief Minister, Omar Abdullah also laid a floral wrath on Altaf’s coffin. Also present there were Chief Secretary, B R Sharma, Director General of Police, K Rajendra Kumar, Chief Vigilance Commissioner, State Vigilance Commission, Kuldeep Khoda, IGP Kashmir Zone, SJM Gillani, besides several other senior police officers.
Deputy Chief Minister, Dr Nirmal Singh has strongly condemned the killing of Police officer Altaf Ahmed, who was killed by anti-national elements at Bandipora.
In a statement, the Deputy Chief Minister said that these acts of cowardice are against the basic tenets of human values and should be condemned by one and all.
He said such inhuman actions are handiwork of the elements who are trying hard to disrupt peaceful atmosphere and revive the dark era of chaos and destruction in the State.
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