Terrorist killed in escape bid as grenade misses mark

SRINAGAR: A Hizbul Mujahideen terrorist was killed in a grenade attack while trying to escape from the custody of Tral police in Pulwama district of Jammu and Kashmir on Monday. The grenade was thrown at the police by Hizbul terrorists in an attempt to free him. A policeman was injured in the blast.
The slain terrorist has been identified by cops as 24-year-old Mushtaq Chopan.

The police drew flak for the “lapse” as Chopan had reportedly tried to flee in a burqa from the Tral police station. “We are investigating how the burqa was brought inside the police station and how Chopan escaped from the toilet. It is a lapse on part of the Tral police,” Awantipora SP Zahid Ahmad told TOI. “Chopan was arrested in Sopore last year for killing an SPO in Tral. He was brought to Tral for questioning,” he added.

The state government ordered a magisterial inquiry into the “lapse”, said a police spokesman.

On February 6, Pakistani LeT terrorist Naveed Jati alias Abu Hanzullah escaped from the police custody when he had been brought to Srinagar’s SMHS hospital for a medical check-up. Two cops were killed in the attack.

Around 12.30pm, Chopan sneaked out of the toilet in a burqa and was going towards the main gate when his aide, identified by cops as Omar Fayaz alias Hamad Khan, threw a grenade at the police station to help him escape, the police said. However, the grenade missed the target, and instead killed Chopan and injured a policeman, said the police. The injured cop, identified as Mehrajuddin, was rushed to the hospital.

Following Chopan’s death, residents of Tral — his native town — took to the streets and fought a pitched battle with security forces. Security personnel fired in the air and lobbed teargas shells to disperse the mob.