Terrorists Involved in Anantnag & Srinagar Blasts Identified: DGP

Suspected militants lobbed a grenade near Kashmir University in Hazratbal area of Srinagar.

Image used for representation.

(Photo: PTI)

Terrorists involved in the killing of a sarpanch and an officer in Anantnag district of south Kashmir belong to Hizbul-ul-Mujahideen and they have been identified, Director General of Police Dilbag Singh said on Thursday, 28 November.

Sarpanch Syed Rafiq Ahmed and Jammu and Kashmir government employee Sheikh Zahoor were killed by militants at Hakura-Badasgam village of Anantnag, where the 'back-to-village' programme was being held, on Tuesday, 26 November.

“The terrorists involved in the killing of sarpanch Syed Rafiq and employee Sheikh Zahoor at Hakura-Badasgam have been identified as Junaid and Zubair of Hizbul-ul-Mujahideen,” Singh said.

The DGP said this while chairing a security review meeting at Srinagar in which he took stock of the security situation in the Kashmir Zone.

He said that the terrorists will be brought to justice.

WHAT HAPPENED?

Two blasts rocked Jammu and Kashmir's Anantnag and Srinagar districts on Tuesday, 26 November, killing two people and injuring seven, police said.

In south Kashmir’s Anantnag, militants lobbed a grenade in Wagoora area when government function – ‘Back to Village programme’ – was taking place, killing two people and injuring four others, a police official said.

The two killed in Anantnag, were a sarpanch and a horticulture department officer. The deaths, according to news agency PTI, may deal a blow to the government's much-acclaimed public outreach initiative in some militancy-hit areas.

The Additional Deputy Commissioner of Anantnag, who was leading the meeting with villagers at Badazgam, was escorted out of the venue safely as security personnel engaged with the militants, officials said.

Three persons -- village sarpanch Rafiq Shah and government employees Manzoor Parray and Zahoor Ahmed Sheikh -- suffered injuring and were rushed to the district hospital, they said.

Shah and Sheikh died at the hospital.

In Srinagar city, an explosion took place in the market near Sir Syed gate of Kashmir University in Hazratbal area this afternoon, the official said.

Three persons were injured in the explosion. All are stated to be stable, he said.

The official said the explosion was not caused by a grenade as suspected earlier. Preliminary investigation suggests that it was a low-intensity blast.

Further investigations are on, the police added.