SRINAGAR: A policeman was killed and three security personnel were injured in an encounter with terrorists in Srinagar ’s Batamaloo area on Sunday. The terrorists, however, managed to escape.

According to sources, after getting specific intelligence inputs about the presence of five terrorists, a joint team of police and CRPF personnel cordoned off Deyarwni locality in Batamaloo area. The terrorists, who were hiding in a house there, fired at the security personnel, causing injuries to four of them. The injured were shifted to a hospital, where one of them, the policeman, was declared dead.

A police spokesman identified the slain cop as senior grade constable Parvaiz Ahmad of J&K Police special operations group (SOG). He added that incriminating evidence was recovered from the site of the encounter. Cops have started combing the area to apprehend the terrorists.

Law and order ADG Munir Khan said, “Since the locality is densely populated, our forces exercised maximum restraint to avoid any collateral damage. Two terrorists were injured in the firing.” The owner of the house where the terrorists had taken shelter, Neyaz Ahmad Bhatt, also sustained injuries. He was shifted to SMHS Hospital where his condition is stated to be stable, Khan added.

"On a specific information about the presence of terrorists in a hideout, an operation was launched at Batamaloo in Srinagar, leading to exchange of fire. One SOG jawan was killed, one JKP & 2 CRPF jawans sustained injuries," DGP SP Vaid tweeted.

Intelligence experts have raised concerns over the presence of terrorists in Srinagar just two days before Independence Day celebrations. On July 24, a motorcycle-borne terrorist shot dead a CRPF jawan in a crowded market near police headquarters close to the civil secretariat. They said Batamaloo, which used to be the hotbed of militancy in the early 90s, has seen a revival of terrorist presence after 30 years.

