SRINAGAR: After a lull of over two years, Kashmir’s capital Srinagar witnessed a fierce gun battle between Islamic militants and security forces on Saturday, leaving a top commander of proscribed Lashkar-e-Tayabba (LeT) dead and four security personnel injured.
The firefight occurred at Khanyar in the heart of old Srinagar when security forces launched a cordon-and-search operation on specific intelligence input about the presence of LeT commander Usman Bhai, a Pakistani national, and two other militants in the congested locality.
During the exchange of fire, two members of the Jammu and Kashmir police’s counterinsurgency Special Operations Group (SOG) and as many CRPF jawans were injured. The injured security personnel were evacuated to Srinagar’s 92 Base (military) hospital where their condition is stated to be stable.
Inspector-General of Police (Kashmir range) V.K. Birdi said Usman Bhai alias Chotta Waleed, one of the most wanted terrorists, was gunned down by the security forces. “He was wanted in many terror-related cases, including killing of non-locals and attacks on security forces. He was also involved in the murder of police Inspector Manzoor Ahmed”, he said.
A private house in which the militants had been holed up caught fire, amid loud sounds. The locals said that the security forces had tossed incendiary devices in their assault against the holed-up militants. The operation was underway as reports last came in.
The police said that they shifted dozens of civilians including women and children of the besieged area to safer locations to ensure no harm comes to them.
This is the first major clash between the security forces and the militants in Srinagar in 26 months. The last such incident in the Kashmiri capital had taken place on September 15, 2022, at Nowgam in which two militants were killed.
Prior to it, Srinagar city had witnessed an encounter between the militants on May 19, 2020, when two Hizb-ul-Mujahideen cadres were neutralised by the security forces at Nawa Kada’l.
Even though many parts of the Kashmir Valley and the Jammu region of the Union Territory have continued to see infrequent terror attacks and other incidents of violence, Srinagar has remained relatively peaceful and was even declared as ‘terrorism-free’ by the CRPF some time ago.
Meanwhile, the security forces gunned down two militants during a brief encounter in the Shangus-Larnoo area of southern Anantnag district. “The operation took place near Halkan Gali, a location within south Kashmir known for sporadic militant activity. One of the slain terrorists is a local Kashmir and the other a foreign national,” a police officer said.
A report said that the security forces and a group of militants clashed in a remote area of northern Bandipore district earlier on Saturday. After the brief clash, the militants fled into a nearby forested area, prompting the security forces to launch a search operation to track them down, the police sources said.
J&K has witnessed a surge in the terror attacks and other incidents of violence past fortnight, leaving 17 persons including three Army personnel dead, two civilian porters, a local doctor, seven construction workers and four militants dead and several others injured.
