Security forces avenge Zewan bus attack, terrorists gunned down; active terrorists count in Kashmir below 200
Synopsis
“Among the three terrorists killed in Dooru Anantnag encounter, two were involved in Zewan Police bus attack,” IGP Vijay Kumar said.
Security forces in Kashmir avenged the Zewan bus attack in which 3 policemen were killed and 11 others suffered injuries as terrorists ambushed a on a bus carrying Jammu and Kashmir Armed Police personnel on the outskirts of Srinagar on Dec 13 -- the 20th anniversary of the Parliament Attack.
Addressing a presser, Inspector General of Police Kashmir, Vijay Kumar on Thursday said that militants involved in the recent Zewan police bus attack were killed in Wednesday’s Anantnag encounter. The IGP also said that the number of active terrorists in Kashmir “was below 200 now for the first time.”
“Among the three terrorists killed in Dooru Anantnag encounter, two were involved in Zewan Police bus attack,” IGP told reporters. “Besides they were also involved in other terror crimes.”
“Zewan attack was carried out on December 13, I had shared that JeM carried out the attack,” he said. “The security forces personnel will be happy to know that this is the same group which carried out the attack in which three policemen were martyred.”
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The deadly bus attack, which coincided with the 20th anniversary of the parliament attack in 2001, took place hours after two suspected Lashkar-e-Taiba militants, including a Pakistani, were gunned down in an encounter in another part of the city, underscoring further deterioration of the security situation in Kashmir.
A senior police officer had identified the deceased as Assistant Sub-Inspector Ghulam Hassan, a resident of Jammu’s Ramban district, staff grade constable Shafique Ali, who hailed from Reasi district and Rameez Ahmad, a resident of Ganderbal in central Kashmir who succumbed to their injuries.
The latest incident was the first major attack on security forces in the Valley since the Pulwama bombings in which 40 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel were killed in February 2019. This was planned along the lines of the Pulwama attack, according to sources.
Meanwhile, three more terrorists were killed, and four security personnel were injured in a fresh encounter on Thursday night at the Pantha Chowk area in Srinagar. This took the toll of terrorist to nine in the past 36 hours in three separate gunfights in the Kashmir Valley.