Three local militants, who were behind marking the off-duty policemen of the Jammu and Kashmir Police for targeted attacks, were arrested in Srinagar. The militant module was also behind the attack on a policeman in Srinagar on December 9.
“During the course of investigations, it came to fore that the arrested trio had prepared a long list of policemen to be targeted. The trio worked at the behest of Pakistan-based handler Hamza Burhan, a resident of Pulwama,” Jammu and Kashmir Director General of Police (DGP) R.R. Swain said.
Burhan is a resident of Pulwama and at present operates from across the border for The Resistance Front, an offshoot of the Lashkar-e-Taiba.
The police identified the arrested trio as Imtiyaz Ahmed Khanday from Srinagar’s Bemina, Mehnan Khan from Srinagar’s Rainawari and Danish Ahmed Malla from Srinagar’s Bemina.
“Malla was the mastermind and hatched a conspiracy to attack a police constable, Muhammad Hafiz Chak, on December 9. Khanday fired at the constable in Bemina. The policeman was on the way home when six bullets were fired at him. Two pierced through and one hit his spine. The injured constable is stable,” Mr. Swain said.
The police have also recovered the weapon of offence, Turkey-made Canik TP09 and one magazine from Khanday. “A second Canik TP09 Turkey made pistol, one magazine and seven rounds were recovered from Khan. 57 9mm rounds and two magazines were recovered from Malla,” the police said.
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Mr. Swain said such weapons were being dropped using drones from across the Line of Control and pushed into Jammu and Kashmir through other means as well. “These weapons being light in weight are easy to carry,” he added.
Two policemen were earlier killed in two separate attacks in Kashmir’s Srinagar and Baramulla districts. The National Investigation Agency has taken over the investigation of the killing of Inspector Masroor Ahmed Wani, who was targeted by militants on October 29 in a playing field in Srinagar.
