A senior official of CRPF has revealed that two terrorists who killed three CRPF jawans last week at a security checkpoint in Handwara who were linked to Lashkar-e-Taiba. The officer stated that one of them was a Pakistani national and the other was Kashmiri.
As per reports, the two-shot dead three CRPF jawans. They were on duty at security checkpoints were reportedly distracted by a movement at the orchard along the road at Handwara’s Wangam. They took away the rifles of the soldiers after cutting the sling before escaping the spot. A 14-year-old kid was also killed in the crossfire.
Five personnel including Colonel Ashutosh Sharma and Major Anuj Sood were martyred in an encounter near Handwara’s Rajbhar forest in an overnight gunbattle. The Ambush in Kupwara district had taken place following the gunbattle. Two Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorists were killed including one Pakistani national named Haider.
A senior police officer said, “We are looking at the possibility that the two terrorists who killed the CRPF jawans may have had a role to play in the gunbattle that cost the security forces five lives.”
He further added, “It is not certain what kind of a role these two terrorists may have played. Whether they were in the house when the security forces mounted the operation to secure the family being held hostage or had left by then.”
A top senior official told Hindustan Times, “after 13-hour Handwara gunbattle that the agencies would keep an open mind on the number of terrorists involved in the encounter. We will be led by the incidence that we find.”
