4 militants, one of them Burka-clad, carried attack at BJP leader’s house in Srinagar: IGP

SRINAGAR — Four militants carried out the recent attack at the residence of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader at Nowgam Srinagar in which a policeman was killed and a rifle snatched, Inspector-General of Police for Kashmir range, Vijay Kumar, said on Thursday.

“I have inspected the place of occurrence. There was one sentry (policeman on guard duty) and two others were in the guard room. It is clearly seen in camera footage that a burka-clad militant came and in a woman’s voice asked the sentry to open the door,” the IGP told reporters in Srinagar. “As soon he opens the door, two more militants come and fire indiscriminately.”

One of the policeman, identified as Rameez Raja, was killed in the attack. The BJP leader, Anwar Khan, was not at his residence when the militants carried out the attack.

“Another militant came and snatched the rifle. Among the four militants, two have been identified and both of them are from Srinagar city and belong to Lashkar-e-Toiba outfit,” the top police officer said. “One is Khurshid from Chanapora who is a categorized militant and another is Obaid Shafi Dar. Both of them were among the six youth who joined militant ranks last year. Two other militants are yet to be identified.”

The IGP said that police will very soon pinpoint and neutralize them.

“We have been carrying out many operations but success eludes so far in February and March. There was also CASO in Chanapora today,” he added. (GNS)