The 3 suspects identified by J&K police are also wanted in cases of bank robberies and murders
Jammu and Kashmir police achieved a major breakthrough on Thursday after they identified the three Hizbul Mujahedeen terrorists who had used one of the INSAS rifles snatched from the cops to kill the 22-year-old army officer Lieutenant Ummer Fayaz in Shopian.
The breakthrough was achieved on the day Union Home Secretary Rajiv Mehrishi met the Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti and discussed the overall security situation in the state.
Preliminary investigations into the case have pointed to the role of Hizbul Mujahedeen. The suspects have been identified as Ishfaq Thakur, Mohammad Abass and Gayas ul islam who were part of the group that carried out the dastardly act on Tuesday evening.
"During preliminary investigation, it has surfaced that Ishfaq Thakur, Mohammad Abass and Gayas ul Islam were involved in the incident. There are others as well who were involved. This group is actively operating in the area. These terrorists are wanted in bank robberies, murders and other cases," Ambarkar Shriram Dinkar, superintendent of police, Shopian, told DNA.
Lt Fayaz was abducted from the residence of his maternal uncle in Batpora village where he had gone to attend the marriage of his cousin sister on Tuesday evening. He was taken to the neighbouring Harmain village where he was shot dead.
Investigations have revealed that Lieutenant Fayaz had two gunshot wounds on his body. The empty cartridges found near the spot have proved that the terrorists had used snatched INSAS rifle to shoot at the army officer.
Terrorists have snatched nearly 40 weapons from police personnle in the last one year. Four INSAS and one AK 47 riffle were snatched on May 3 when terrorists stormed the district court complex in Shopian and disarmed the cops before fleeing with weapons.
Police are investigating the case from all possible angles and activated their sources to track down the terrorists responsible for the killing.
"We are trying to find out what exactly has happened. The people who had abducted the officer were masked. The family is in shock. We are making concerted efforts with neighbouring districts also to flush them (terrorists) out of the safe heaven and bring them to justice," said Shriram.
Police are also using human and technical intelligence to track down the terrorists and expose the conspiracy. "We are also looking at technical evidence as well. We are looking at all possible information we get," he said.
Security forces have already launched cordon and search operations to dominate the area and hunt down the terrorists. "Lot of operations were conducted yesterday. Even now some cordon and search operation were conducting. We are dominating the area to flush out the terrorists. Terrain is such that the operation requires a lot of planning. We will flush them out," said Shriram.
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