Two terrorists who killed three CRPF jawans at a security checkpost in Handwara last week are linked to the Lashkar-e-Taiba, a senior police officer said on Tuesday. The officer said one of them was a Pakistani national Usman. The other was a Kashmiri.
The two shot dead three jawans of the Central Reserve Police Force who were at a security checkpoint when they were distracted by some movement at the orchard along the road at Handwara’s Wangam. The terrorists had taken away the rifles of the soldiers after cutting the sling before escaping from the spot.
A 14-year-old was killed in the crossfire.
The ambush in Kupwara district had taken place just a day after five security personnel including Colonel Ashutosh Sharma and Major Anuj Sood laid down their lives in an encounter near Handwara’s Rajbhar forest in an overnight gunbattle. Two Lashkar terrorists including one Pakistani national Haider were also killed in this incident.
“We are looking at the possibility that the two terrorists who killed the CRPF jawans may have had a role to play in the gunbattle that cost the security forces five lives,” a senior police officer said.
“It is not certain what kind of a role these two terrorists may have played. Whether they were in the house when the security forces mounted the operation to secure the family being held hostage or had left by then.” the officer said.
A top security official had told Hindustan Times after the 13-hour Handwara gunbattle that the agencies would keep an open mind on the number of terrorists involved in the encounter. “We will be led by the evidence that we find,” he said on Tuesday.
Handwara falls along the route for terrorists infiltrating from the Leepa Valley, the route that has been much in use by terrorists coming into the Keran sector from Pakistan occupied Kashmir. Intelligence agencies have cautioned that north Kashmir’s Handwara, Baramulla and Sopore triangle could be the hotbed of terror activity this summer as Pakistan’s deep state looks to escalate the violence here.
