November 11: Police alongwith Army neutralized a foreign terrorist linked with proscribed terror outfit JeM in an anti-terrorist operation in Kapren area of Shopian. Besides, 04 terrorist associates were also arrested by police & security forces in Tral area of Awantipora.
Acting on specific information generated by police regarding presence of terrorist in Kapren area of Shopian, a joint cordon and search operation was launched by Police, and Army (34RR) in the said area. To avoid any civilian casuality or injury, the joint team of forces evacuated teachers and students from nearby Madrasa to safer places.
During the search operation, as the joint search party approached towards the suspected spot, the hiding terrorist fired indiscriminately upon the joint search party which was retaliated effectively leading to an encounter. Later on CRPF (178Bn) also joined in the operation.
In the ensuing encounter, 01 foreign terrorist identified as Kamran Bhai @Hanees linked with proscribed terror outfit JeM was killed and his body was retrieved from the site of encounter.
As per police records, the killed terrorist was a categorized terrorist and involved in several terror crime cases including attacks on Police/SFs and civilian atrocities. It is pertinent to mention here that the killed terrorist was active in Kulgam-Shopian area and was trying to revive the terror folds of JeM terror outfit by recruiting & motivating the gullible youth to join terror folds besides, planning to execute terror attacks.
Incriminating materials, arms & ammunition including 01 AK-74, 04 Magazines were recovered from the site of encounter. All the recovered materials have been taken into case records for further investigation.
ADGP Kashmir congratulated the joint team of Police and security forces for conducting successful operation without any collateral damage and termed the operation as a big success as a possible threat of fidayeen and other terrorist attacks were thwarted by his elimination.
In this regard, a case under relevant sections of law has been registered and further investigation is in progress. People are requested to cooperate with Police till the area at encounter site is completely sanitized and cleared of all the explosive materials, if any.
Moreover, Police alongwith security forces arrested four terrorist associates linked with proscribed terror outfit LeT and recovered explosive/ incriminating materials from their possession.
They have been identified as Karamat-ul-lah Reshi son of Mehraj-ud-din Reshi & Suhail Bashir Ganai son of Bashir Ah Ganai, both residents of Chewa Uller Tral, Adil Ghani Lone son of Abdul Ghani Lone resident of Karamulla Tral and Irshad Ahmed Kumar son of Manzoor Ahmed Kumar resident of Tral-e-Payeen. Incriminating materials including explosive substance has been recovered from their possession.
During preliminary investigation, it was revealed that the arrested terrorist associates were in touch with LeT terrorist commander @Babar @Samama resident of PoK and were in a bid to hatch conspiracy to plant IED in Tral area with the intend to cause damage to Police/Security Forces. Besides, the arrested terrorist associates were also involved in transportation of arms & ammunition and other logistic support to the active terrorists of LeT.
Accordingly, a case FIR No.164/2022 under relevant sections of law has been registered in Police Station Tral and further investigation has been set into motion.