3 'hybrid' terrorists behind attack on J-K cop arrested

Three "hybrid" terrorists involved in last week's attack on a policeman in Bemina area of Srinagar city have been arrested, director general of police Jammu and Kashmir R R Swain said on Sunday.

Constable Mohammad Hafeez Chak was attacked on December 9 while he was returning home.

The DGP said the conspiracy was hatched by one Pakistan-based terrorist Arjumand alias Hamza Burhan who got in touch with a local mastermind Danish Ahmad Malla to carry out the attack.

"The hybrid terrorists who were involved in the attack have been arrested. This briefing is about the success that the J&K Police has achieved in tracing the killers (attackers) of one of our policemen," Swain told reporters here.

"Constable Mohammad Hafeez Chak fortunately survived the attack. We hope and pray that he will be back hale and hearty. As far as the killers (are concerned), they had done their job. Six bullets were fired, three hit the cop and three did not," he added.

Hybrid terrorists are those who carry out attacks and then slip back into their routine lives, the police said.

Swain said Malla, who lives in the same locality as the policeman, recruited two hybrid terrorists -- Imtiyaz Khanday and Mehnaan Khan.

"They managed (to get) pistols and followed him for several days before carrying out the attack. The pistol used (in the attack) has been recovered at the instance of Khanday who had fired the bullets," he said.

The DGP said another pistol was recovered from Khan while 57 pistol rounds were recovered from Malla.

Swain said during questioning, the terrorists revealed that they had finalised a list of targets.

"They had a number of other targets. While some were finalised, others were in the process of being identified. Most of the targets were policemen but there were some non-policemen also on their radar," he said.

Asked if the arrested men had any hand in the killing of Inspector Masroor Wani, the DGP said the case was being investigated by the National Investigation Agency.

"That (case) is still under investigation, the NIA has taken over the investigation. I think It would be inappropriate to prematurely start connecting," he said.

The DGP said Turkish pistol Canik TP9 was used in carrying out the attack.

Canik TP9 is a high-quality pistol and its lightweight makes it very good, he said.

It was not the first time that Canik TP9 has been recovered from terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir, the police chief said.

"But we are seeing a pattern and a trend... this category of small arms is being brought into Jammu and Kashmir through drones and through a variety of other means, being smuggled into our side from Pakistan," he said.