The Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) was behind the killing of three BJP leaders in Kulgam district on Thursday, Inspector General of Police Vijay Kumar said and appealed to the protected persons in the Valley not to move around without their security.

Three BJP workers — Fida Hussain, Umer Hajam and Umer Rashid Beigh — were shot dead by militants in the YK Pora area of Kulgam district on Thursday evening.

The Resistance Front (TRF), which is believed to be a shadow group of LeT, claimed responsibility for the killings.

Vijay Kumar, IGP (Kashmir), said the police had seized a vehicle used in the attack and such killings were being executed at the behest of Pakistan.

“Three militants came in a car belonging to a local militant, Altaf. Fida (Hussain) was with his two colleagues in a car and the militants fired indiscriminately at them from a close range. They received grave injuries and succumbed on the way to the hospital,” the IGP said.

Vijay Kumar said after the attack, the militants fled in the same car towards the Achbal area, from where the car was seized this morning.

A team of forensic science laboratory had gone to Achbal to inspect the car, he added.

“The names of LeT militants — a local militant from Dooru, Nisar Khanday; and Abbas from Khudwani who was previously associated with HM (Hizbul Mujahideen) and is now with LeT and also claims to be from the TRF — are cropping up. The involvement of these two is there, but there may be a foreign terrorist involved as well (in the attack),” he said.

The IGP asserted the security forces would neutralise them soon.

Kumar said Hussain was one of the 1,619 vulnerable persons who were lodged in secure locations before the Centre’s decision to revoke the special status of Jammu and Kashmir on August 5 last year. — PTI

Courtesy: Daily Tribune: 30th October 2020