Srinagar, May 19 (KNO): Director General of J&K police Dilbagh Singh Tuesday said that the one of the two slain militants of Nawa Kadal encounter have been identified as Hizbul Mujahideen’s divisional commander for Central Kashmir Junaid Sehrai, the son of Tehreek-e-Hurriyat chairman Muhammad Ashraf Sehrai.
Police have identified the second slain militant as Tariq Ahmed Sheikh from Pulwama district of South Kashmir. Sehrai is from Hyderpora area of Srinagar. He originally hails from Kuwpara district. At present, his father is living and was living in Hyderpora area of Srinagar. Junaid, the youngest son of Sehrai, was MBA pass out and joined militancy in March 2018.
Addressing press conference in Srinagar as per the news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO), DGP Singh said that in the operation that started last night at Nawa Kadal area and culminated this afternoon, Hizbul Mujahideen’s divisional commander for Central Kashmir Junaid Sehrai was killed. “Sehrai was assigned the task of heading Central Kashmir areas,” he said.
The DGP said while replying to a query what were the two slain militants doing in Srinagar, he said that they were tasked to lure youth into militancy and for grenade throwing. “Junaid would hold meetings with the youth and lure them towards militancy,” he said. “Junaid would also operate in Pulwama and Shopain along with his associate Tariq. There were half a dozen FIRs against him.”
The DGP said that Nawa Kadal operation was a clean one as only one residential house caught fire which was controlled immediately. “The first thing we did in the morning was to evacuate the inmates. In that process, two forces personnel—one from CRPF and another from J&KP’s SoG were injured. In the final assault, the remaining militant hurled a grenade in which two CRPF men sustained injured but all the injured are stable,” he said.
Asked how many militants are active in Srinagar, the DGP said that number keeps on floating and in entire Central Kashmir, the number is just 14. About the total active militants in Kashmir at present, he said the number is far less than the last year.
“Not more than 240 militants are active in Kashmir,” he said, adding that 73 militants were killed this year so far and 95 militants and their associates were arrested. Today’s encounter was first after two years in Srinagar. Last encounter was reported in Chattabal area of Srinagar in 2018.
Meanwhile, the authorities had snapped mobile voice call services and disabled mobile internet services on all platforms except BSNL in Srinagar district in the wake of an encounter—(KNO)