Two terrorists slain in Kashmir were from Kerala

SRINAGAR: Two suspected terrorists killed in a shootout in north Kashmir earlier this month were from Kerala and belonged to the Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) terror outfit, the Jammu and Kashmir police reiterated here on Saturday.

Based on the election identity cards found on them, their fingerprints and other evidence, the men were identified as Abdul Rehman and Muhammad Fayaz, belonging to Kannur and Malappuram districts of Kerala respectively.

The two militants were killed in Jammu and Kashmir Kupwara district on Oct 7 by security forces.

"A senior police officer from the special branch of Kerala's CID who arrived here to identify the slain militants has confirmed that both of them were from Kerala," Uttam Chand, senior superintendent of police Kupwara district, told IANS.

After the shootout, a senior police official here had claimed that both the terrorists, who were code-named Fayaz and Yasin and carried Malayalam literature with them, belonged to Kerala, but the Kerala police had refuted the claim.

“The investigation into the identity of the slain militants had become necessary after the denial by the police in Kerala. The relatives of the slain militants in Kerala have now been informed about the incident,” the official said.

The Kerala government had on Tuesday confirmed that the two slain men belonged to the state.