Junaid Asharf, youngest son of Tehreek-e Hurriyat Chairman Mohd Ashraf Sehrai, was gunned down by the joint teams of security forces along with his associate in Nawa Kadal area of downtown Srinagar in a twelve hour long operation on Tuesday.
Four jawans of security forces, including three CRPF personnel and one policeman also sustained injuries and were admitted in the command hospital.
An MBA graduate of Kashmir University, Junaid had joined ranks of Hizbul Mujahideen shortly after his father was appointed chairman of the separatist group after Syed Ali Shah Geelani in March 2018. Junaid, originally hailed from Tikipora village of Kupwara.
Director General of Jammu and Kashmir police, Dilbagh Singh in Srinagar said, “the operation was launched in down town areas of Srinagar late on Monday night on the basis of specific input about the presence of terrorists in the areaâ€.
It was after a gap of more than two years local residents in Sher-e-Khas areas were woken up to the sounds of gun shots and grenade blasts as the security forces established first contact with the hiding terrorists.
The jawans of the Special Operations Group of Jammu and Kashmir police and commandos of CRPF executed the operation with precision to avoid collateral damage in the thickly populated area.Several local residents were escorted by the security personnel to prevent loss of human life during the exchange of fire.
DGP, Dilbagh Singh said, “ after zeroing on the exact location both the terrorists were eliminated by the security forces during the night long operationâ€. DGP Singh also confirmed only two terrorists were present in the area while clarifying initial reports which had claimed some terrorists might have escaped the cordon. He identified one of the killed terrorist as Junaid Ahmed Sehrai son of Mohd Ashraf Khan of Srinagar and another as Tariq Ahmed Sheikh, resident of Pulwama.
Singh said, “Junaid was active in central Kashmir and acting as self styled divisional commander of Hizbul Mujahideen for last two yearsâ€. On the other hand his associate was a fresh recruit as he had joined ranks of HM only three months ago.
Singh said, in the past several grenade attacks were reported from Srinagar and all the cases were tracked and challaned after busting their sleeper cells and secret hide outs.
Singh said, Junaid was directly involved in half a dozen cases of violence including targeted attacks on security forces and threatening civilians in central kashmir districts. He said he operated in districts of Budgam, Pulwama, Shopian and Srinagar.
Later, Dilbagh Singh visited command hospital to inquire about the well being of jawans who had sustained injuries during the encounter.
