All militant recruits from Srinagar neutralised, says Kashmir IGP Vijay Kumar

‘All militants have been neutralised in the past five anti-militancy operations’

Tough fight: Army personnel after their return from an encounter site near Srinagar on Saturday.

All militant recruits from Jammu & Kashmir’s capital Srinagar have been neutralised in the past five anti-militancy operations in the city, the police said on Sunday.

“Five encounters took place in the city this year. Of 10 terrorists killed in these gunfights, four were from Srinagar. Now, no resident of Srinagar district is in any terrorist rank,” Inspector General of Police, Kashmir, Vijay Kumar, told The Hindu .

Mr. Kumar said Lashkar-e-Taiba’s Ishfaq Rashid Khan, who was killed in an encounter on Saturday near Srinagar, was the last active militant from the capital. Two militants were killed in the operation on Saturday.

A top Hizbul Mujahideen commander, Junaid Sehrai, who is the son of Tehreek-e-Hurriyat chief Muhammad Ashraf Sehrai, was among the four slain militants from Srinagar. Sehrai was killed along with his two associates in May this year.

Police sources said the killing of these militants has dented the logistic support of the militants arriving from north and south Kashmir for “temporary bases and money” in the capital.

Srinagar witnessed stepped up militant activities this year, resulting in setting up of multiple checkpoints across the city and launching of frequent crackdowns in residential areas, police sources said.

Over 137 militants have been killed in anti-militancy operations by security forces in J&K so far this year, mostly in south Kashmir’s Shopian, Kulgan and Awantipora.

Meanwhile, militants opened fire on the security forces on Sunday morning in Shopian town.

“A joint party of CRPF and the police was attacked near Shungloo Bridge in Shopian. There were no casualties,” the police said.

Arms, drugs recovered

Meanwhile, an Army spokesman said three suspects were arrested and a huge consignment of weapons and narcotics was recovered from the Sadhna Pass in Kupwara’s Tangdhar area in north Kashmir.

“Based on inputs about smuggling, an Army dog, aided by detectors and scanners, located the concealed and hidden packages from a vehicle. The search operation led to apprehension of three suspects and seizure of two vehicles,” the spokesman said.

The Army said one AK-56, a magazine and ammunition, two pistols with two magazines and ammunition, 20 grenades and approximately 10 kg of narcotics were recovered.

The police said the recovered brown sugar was weighing around 10 kg.