On Wednesday morning, the security forces neutralised two terrorists during an encounter in the Rainawari area of Srinagar.
According to the Jammu and Kashmir police, one of the terrorists killed in the counter-terror operation is identified as Rayees Ahmad Bhat. He was a journalist. The journalist-turned-terrorist ran an online news portal- “Valley News Service” in Anantnag.
The Jammu and Kashmir police said that Bhat had joined the terrorist ranks of Lashkar-e-Taiba in August last year and was categorised as ‘C’ on the terrorists’ list. Two FIRs are already registered against him for terror crimes, police said.
One of the killed categorised local #terrorists of proscribed #terror outfit LeT was carrying Identity Card (ID) of media. It indicates a clear case of misuse of media: IGP Kashmir@JmuKmrPolice pic.twitter.com/av3cnyRA8f
— Kashmir Zone Police (@KashmirPolice) March 29, 2022
Speaking to the media, Vijay Kumar, IGP of Jammu and Kashmir, said that the involvement of a former journalist in terror crimes suggested that there was a clear case of misuse of media.
Another terrorist killed in the encounter has been identified as Hilal Ahmad Rahm, a resident of Bijbehara. Hilal was also a ‘C’ categorised terrorist.
The senior police officer said that both were involved in several recent terror crimes, including civilian killings. The police official said that incriminating materials have been recovered from the encounter site, including arms and ammunition.
The encounter broke out at around 1 AM on early Wednesday in the Rainawari area of Srinagar. The counter-terror operations were led by Jammu and Kashmir police and Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF).
