Director General of Police Dilbag Singh on Wednesday said that the militant killed in Ganderbal district on Tuesday evening was one of the aides of slain Hizbul Mujahideen commander Riyaz Naikoo.
“At one point, he was a close aide and over the ground worker (OGW) of (then Hizb commander) Riyaz Naikoo. He was especially prepared to be sent to Ganderbal for the attack and we are proud of our colleague’s response,” DGP said. He was speaking at the wreath-laying ceremony of constable Altaf Hussain who died in the attack on BJP leader Ghulam Qadir at Nunar Ganderbal on Tuesday evening.
“His name is Shabir Ahmed of Awantipora (Pulwama) and was tasked to carry out target hitting of BJP leader in Ganderbal,” he said. “There are indications that another militant was injured in the Ganderbal attack. A trail of blood was detected there and we suspect there may be more than one militant involved,” Singh added.
The DGP said that the attack was on a protected person, someone who was accompanied by two personal security officers, including Altaf Hussain. “They were going somewhere when they were fired upon. Our brave colleague Altaf Hussain retaliated and he was injured in the exchange of fire. He managed to kill the militant,” he said.
The police chief said that it’s not a big deal for a militant to travel from one district to another.
The DGP blamed The Resistance Front (TRF) for carrying attacks on political leaders and panchayat members in Kashmir.
About the spike in attacks on security forces on highways, Singh said that they are using drones to monitor the movement on the highways. “Now we will be aiding the technical support to monitor the movement,” he said adding that there have been instances when militants were killed in retaliatory action after the attacks.
Besides the DGP, the wreath laying ceremony was attended by senior officers that included ADGP Coordination PHQ J&K S.J.M Gillani, ADGP CID R.R. Swain, ADGP Headquarters/L&O A.G.Mir, ADGP Armed A.K. Chaudary, IGP Kashmir Vijay Kumar, IG CRPF (Ops) Deepak Rattan, DIG CRPF (Ops) Ashok Shamiyal and DC Ganderbal Shafqat Iqbal, SSP Srinagar Dr. M. Haseeb Muhgal, SSP Ganderbal Khalil Poswal and Colonel Aditya Singh of 15 Corps.
Constable Altaf Hussain was laid to rest in ancestral graveyard at Eidgah Srinagar on Wednesday afternoon.