TRF militant from Pak killed in Hazratbal shootout: IGP

SRINAGAR — J-K Police on Thursday said that a “Pakistani” militant, who was active for the last six months in Srinagar, was killed in a brief shootout in Hazratbal area of the summer capital of J&K.

“A police party was tracking him and his aim was to carry the attack on the police guard at the shrine and snatch his rifle,” Inspector General of Police Vijay Kumar told reporters at the scene.

“Soon after seeing the police party, he fired with a pistol and the fire was retaliated, leading to the killing of the militant,” the top police officer said, adding, “He was a Pakistani and was active for the last six months. His video had also gone viral recently,” he said.

He said two more militants fled from the scene and “we are tracking them using CCTVs etc.”

To a question by a journalist that how police see the attack near Hazratbal given the faith of the people from all religions in the place, he said, “The aim, as the incident in Pulwama mosque today and at this shrine, was to hurt the religious sentiments and create law and order problem.”

He said that a pistol has been recovered from the site at Hazratbal.

IGP Kashmir termed Haider’s killing in Srinagar as a “big success and congratulated the police for conducting a successful operation without any collateral damage, especially to the nearby historical religious place.”

Meanwhile, the IGP told GNS that the killed militant has been identified as Haider and he was a TRF commander.

Later in a statement this evening, Police gave full identification of the killed as Manzoor alias Haider alias Hamzah, a Pakistani national.

“The killed (militant) along with two other (militants) who managed to escape from the spot were on a mission to snatch the weapon from the police personnel guarding the Hazratbal shrine,” a police spokesperson said, adding, “The timely action of small police party, who were tracking them, led to the (killing) of (militant). Efforts are on to track the other two (militants) who fled from the spot.”

As per police records, the spokesperson said, Haider was a close associate of LeT militant commander Mehran (TRF) and “was involved in several cases.”