2 LeT terrorists shot dead: TV artist’s ‘heinous murder solved in 24 hrs’ – cops

Two Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terrorists – suspected to be involved in the killing of TV artist Amreen Bhat – have been shot dead in a late-night encounter in the town of Awantipora, the Jammu and Kashmir police said on Friday.

Bhat was shot dead by terrorists outside her house in Budgam’s Hashroo village on Wednesday and her 10-year-old nephew was also injured.

“10 #terrorists including 3 from JeM & 7 from LeT terror outfits killed in 3 days in Kashmir valley. Heinous murder case of late Ambreen Bhat solved in 24 hours,” the police said in an early-morning tweet.

The two terrorists – Shahid Mushtaq Bhat and Farhan Habib – had killed the 35-year-old TV artist on the instruction of LeT Commander Lateef, the police said, quoting inspector general of police, Vijay Kumar, adding that one AK-56 rifle, four magazines and a pistol were recovered from the site of the encounter. Both of them were trapped by police before they were shot dead.

The killing of the TV artist – who also uploaded her videos on social media – had sparked protests and condemnation across the union territory. “Shocked & deeply saddened by the murderous militant attack on Ambreen Bhat. Sadly Ambreen lost her life in the attack & her nephew was injured. There can be no justification for attacking innocent women & children like this. May Allah grant her place in Jannat. (sic),” former chief minister Omar Abdullah had tweeted.

“Her nephew is a young 10 year old boy. Yesterday it was a police constable’s daughter injured in an attack & today this young 10 year old child. How does anyone justify these attacks? (sic),” he had said in another post, referring to a surge in attacks on civilians.

Earlier this week, an off-duty police constable was killed by terrorists and his nine-year-old daughter was injured at Anchar in Srinagar. Police said that the cop identified as Saifullah Qadri was attacked by militants near Anchar when he was walking on the road along with his daughter outside his house.

Twenty-six foreign terrorists – linked to Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammad groups – have been killed since January amid a spurt in attacks, the police have said.