The Jammu and Kashmir Police along with the Army on Friday neutralised three wanted terrorists belonging to proscribed terror outfit Hizbul Mujahideen (HM), including its oldest surviving member Ashraf Molvi, in an operation at Sirchan Top in Anantnag district. "On Thursday, Anantnag Police along with the Army had arrested a Hizbul Mujahideen terrorist who was identified as Mohd Ishfaq Shergojri, a resident of Nowgam Verinag. During sustained interrogation, leads were developed and several cordon and search operations (CASOs) were conducted in various areas of Anantnag. One such operation launched in the forest area of Sirchan Top in Anantnag turned into an encounter," the police said.During the operation, as the joint party proceeded towards the suspected spot, the hiding terrorists fired on the joint party which was retaliated, leading to an encounter. In the ensuing encounter, three terrorists of proscribed terror outfit HM were killed and their bodies were retrieved from the site of encounter.
The slain terrorists have been identified as Mohd Ashraf Khan alias Ashraf Molvi/Mansoor ul Haq, Mohd Rafiq Drangay and Roshan Zameer Tantray alias Aqib.As per police records, all the three slain terrorists were part of groups involved in several terror crime cases, including attacks on police, security forces and civilian atrocities."As per the records, slain terrorist Mohd Ashraf Khan was the oldest surviving member of Hizbul Mujahideen and figured in the list of most wanted terrorists. He had a long history of being involved in terror crime cases, which include attacks on police, security forces and civilian atrocities."He was also well-trained in fabricating and planting of IEDs as he had crossed over to PoK 1999 to get illegal arms training before joining the terror folds.
He was also instrumental in reviving the network of HM in Anantnag by recruiting gullible youth into terror folds. On his directions, terrorists killed sarpanch Ghulam Rasool Dar and his wife Jawahara Begum at Lal Chowk in Anantnag in August last year," the police said."Similarly, Roshan Zameer Tantray was active since 2018 and was involved in several terror crime cases. Mohd Rafiq Drangay was active since 2019 and was involved in many terror crime cases, including attacks on police personnel and security forces," the police added.Incriminating materials, including huge cache of arms and ammunition, were recovered from the site of encounter.IGP Kashmir, Vijay Kumar, congratulated the joint team for neutralising the most wanted terrorists and for conducting the operation in a professional manner without any collateral damage.He also termed the operation as a major success as the site of the encounter was close to the Amarnath Yatra route, which indicates that the killed terrorists were eyeing to target the Yatra.