LeT Terrorist Behind Civilian Killings In Gagangir Neutralized

Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terrorist Junaid Bhat, who was behind civilian killings in Gagangir among other terror attacks, was neutralized in an encounter in Dachigam on Tuesday, Jammu and Kashmir police said.

The police informed that a cordon and search operation based on specific intelligence was launched by joint security forces in the upper reaches of the Dachigam forest on the outskirts of Srinagar. Bhat was killed after contact was established with the operations still underway in the area.

According to the police, Junaid Bhat was involved in the killing of seven employees of a construction company working on the Z-Morh tunnel near Sonamag in Central Kashmir’s Ganderbal district. Junaid, a LeT terrorist from south Kashmir’s Kulgam district, was identified as one of the two armed assailants through CCTV footage of the incident.

Seven people including a Kashmiri doctor were killed when terrorists fired at a construction site in Jammu and Kashmir’s Ganderbal district on October 20. It was the deadliest attack on civilians since the June 9 incident in Reasi when nine pilgrims were killed after their bus plunged into a valley when terrorists opened fire on it.

What Amit Shah said

Asserting that those involved in the act will not be spared, Union Home Minister Amit Shah posted on X, “The dastardly terror attack on civilians in Gagangir, J&K, is a despicable act of cowardice. Those involved in this heinous act will not be spared and will face the harshest response from our security forces.”

The attack came after the first new administration in Jammu and Kashmir since it was made a union territory and the special status it was granted under Article 370 was withdrawn in 2019. At least two suspected gunmen fired indiscriminately on the camp housing APCO workers at Gagangir in the Gund area of Ganderbal, police said.

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