In a huge success for security forces and a jolt to militants, Hizb-ul-Mujahideen top commander Junaid Sehrai, son of hardline Threek-e-Hurriyat chief Ashraf Sehrai, was killed along with his associate in old city Srinagar on Tuesday.
A policeman and three paramilitary CRPF personnel, including an officer, were also injured in the encounter which broke out during the intervening night of Monday and Tuesday at congested Nawa Kadal area of Srinagar.
Sources told DH that it was Junaid’s mobile phone which led security agencies to him. “Two weeks ago, he was traced to Kangan area in Ganderbal district where he came with two militants. He used their mobile hotspot. By the time search was launched, he fled,” they said. On Monday, too, Junaid was in Srinagar for a meeting.
J&K police chief Dilbagh Singh confirmed the killing of Junaid, who had figured in the list of top 10 most wanted militants last week after the killing of Hizbul chief Riyaz Naikoo on May 6. He identified the second slain militant as Tariq Ahmed Sheikh from Pulwama district of south Kashmir.
“The first thing we did in the morning was to evacuate the inmates. In that process, two forces personnel—one from CRPF and another from J&K police were injured. In the final assault, the remaining militant hurled a grenade in which two CRPF men sustained injured,” he said.
Addressing a hurriedly called press conference, here, Singh said Junaid was tasked to lure local youth into militancy and for grenade throwing in Srinagar. “He would hold meetings with the youth and lure them towards militancy,” he said.
The police chief said less than 240 militants were active in Kashmir as 73 ultras were killed this year so far.
Reports said several structures in the area were damaged after the house where the militants were hiding caught fire due to shelling by the security. This was the first encounter in Srinagar post Abrogation of Article 370 on August 5 last year.
Mobile internet and mobile telephony services, except on BSNL postpaid, were snapped in Srinagar as a precautionary measure.
This is for the first time that son of any senior separatist leader of the stature of Sehrai has been killed in Kashmir. Sehrai junior, an MBA from Kashmir University actually hails from Tikipora village in northern Kupwara, where from Mannan Wani, a scholar of Aligarh Muslim University, who was killed last year by security forces after joining the Hizbul. The two were reportedly friends.
Junaid’s killing comes as another jolt to the Hizbul after the killing of Riyaz Naikoo earlier this month. He was recently appointed deputy chief of Hizbul after Naikoo’s killing.
Deccan Herald is on WhatsApp Channels| Join now for Breaking News & Editor's Picks