Journalist-turned militant among 2 militants in Srinagar encounter

Srinagar: A journalist-turned Lashkar-e- Toiba militant along with his aide were killed along with his associate in an overnight encounter at Rainawari area of Srinagar, Police said Wednesday.
A police official said that based on a specific input generated by police regarding presence of militants in Rainawari area of Srinagar, a joint cordon and search operation was launched by Srinagar Police and CRPF in the area.
“During the search operation, as the search party proceeded towards the suspected spot, the hiding militants fired indiscriminately upon the search party which was retaliated effectively leading to an encounter,” the official said, adding that in the ensuing encounter two militants were killed and their bodies were retrieved from the site of encounter.
“They have been identified as Rayees Ahmad Bhat and Hilal Ahmad Rah, both residents of Bijbehara Anantnag, linked with LeT,” the official said.
A police spokesman in a statement issued on Wednesday said that as per police records, both the killed militants were categorized and part of groups involved in several crime cases including attacks on Police/forces and civilian atrocities.
“It is pertinent to mention that slain Rayees Ahmad was earlier working as a journalist and was running online news portal ‘Valley News Service’ in Anantnag. He had joined militant ranks in year 2021 and was wanted by law in many cases,” the spokesman said.
Talking to reporters here, Inspector General of Police (IGP) Kashmir Vijay Kumar the two slain militants killed in Rainawari, Srinagar encounter were tasked to carry out attacks on the soft targets in the city.
He said that both slain belong to Anantnag district including one journalist turned militant Rayees Ahmed Bhat, who was involved in a series of activities as there were two FIRs registered against them. He said one of the slain Rayees Ahmed , who was a journalist earlier, and had joined militant ranks last year. “He was involved in a series of killings and there were two FIRs registered against him already,” the IGP said. He said that some journalists were misusing media and spreading fake news and resorting to anti-national activities. “Though their number is very less, I urge them to refrain from doing it,” he said.
Asked about the number of militants, the IGP said that it was for the first time that the number of militants has come down to “all time low.”
About the petrol bomb attack in Sopore, the IGP said that woman who hurled the petrol bomb at forces, has been identified and will be arrested soon. He said that security forces will intensify anti-militancy operations to make Kashmir militancy free.