TRF commander among three militants killed in Srinagar shootout: J&K police

The ultras were killed in a brief shootout near the Rambagh bridge on Lal Chowk-Airport road, the officials said

Three militants, including teenager Mehran Yasin Shala, who police said was involved in civilian killings last month, were killed on Wednesday in a brief shootout in uptown Rambagh area of Srinagar.

The latest encounter happened barely two kms from Hyderpora where a controversial encounter took place last week in which three "civilians" and an unidentified militant were killed.

“Police #neutralised 03 #terrorists in #Srinagar. Identification & affliation of the killed terrorists is being ascertained. Further details shall follow (sic),” Kashmir Zone Police tweeted.

One of the three militants killed in the encounter has been identified as Mehran, a top commander of The Resistance Front (TRF), Inspector General Police (IPG), Kashmir, Vijay Kumar said.

19-year-old Mehran, a resident of Jamalata area of old city Srinagar, had joined TRF in June this year and was believed to be involved in the killing of pharmacist Makhan Lal Bindroo and two non-Muslim school teachers last month. TRF is believed to be an offshoot of Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) outfit.

Slain chief of TRF, Abbas Shiekh, who was killed in an encounter in August this year, is believed to have played a key role in the induction of Mehran. The other two militants were identified as Manzoor Ahmad Mir and Arfat, both residents of south Kashmir’s Pulwama.

However, unconfirmed reports said that the slain militants were taken out from a Santro car and shot dead on a street. In one of the videos viral on the internet, wailing women can be seen saying that “they witnessed a group of policemen firing on them.”

Soon after the encounter, the locals held protests in the area which spread to other parts of the city till evening.

However, the police said they had prior information about the movement of militants, based on which a trap was laid to catch them. “Three terrorists who have been gunned down had entered the city with a view of doing some action in the city,” J&K police chief Dilbagh Singh said.

144 militants have been killed in the Valley so far this year, of which 123 were locals and 21 Pakistanis.

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