Junaid Ahmed Bhat was a category ‘A’ terrorist

PTI

A Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorist, allegedly involved in an attack near a tunnel construction site in Jammu and Kashmir’s Gagangir in October this year, was killed in an encounter with the security forces in the Dachigam forest area here on Tuesday, officials said.

Acting on specific intelligence inputs, security forces launched a cordon-and-search operation in the upper reaches of Dachigam on Monday night, the officials said.

The search operation turned into a gunfight after terrorists fired at a search party, who retaliated. In the exchange of fire on Tuesday morning, a terrorist identified as Junaid Ahmed Bhat was killed, the officials said.

Bhat, a category ‘A’ terrorist of the Lashkar-e-Taiba, was wanted for his alleged involvement in the October 20 attack near a tunnel construction site in the Gagangir area of Ganderbal in which a local doctor and six non-local labourers were killed, they added.

“OP Dachigam: In the ongoing operation, one terrorist is killed and has been identified as Junaid Ahmed Bhat (LeT, Category A). The said terrorist was involved in civilian killing at Gagangir, Ganderbal, and several other terror attacks,” the Kashmir Zone Police said in a post on X.

The police said a cordon-and-search operation was underway in the upper reaches of Dachigam, and further details were awaited. Dachhigam, a national park on the outskirts of Srinagar, covers an area of about 141 square kilometres.