Days after Journalist Shujaat Bukhari’s killing in Srinagar, his three killers have been identified by the police, say sources. One of the killers is Pakistani and believed to be a Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorist, and two are locals from south Kashmir, sources said, claiming a breakthrough.
“The Pakistani militant involved in the attack is Naveed Jutt, who had earlier escaped from police custody from Shri Maharaja Hari Singh (SMHS) hospital in February this year,” said a police source.
Shujaat Bukhari, the editor of Rising Kashmir, was shot dead on June 14 when he left his office and got into his car to drive to an Iftaar party. The killers, who came on a bike, sprayed bullets at him at close range. The 52-year-old journalist was hit with 17 bullets and his two security guards were also killed.
While police blamed terrorist outfit for the attack, Lashkar has denied its complicity in the attack terming it an act of “Indian agencies”. LeT chief Mahmood Shah in a statement issued through his spokesman Dr Abdullah Ghaznavi on June 25 said that it was nothing but a “blatant lie” to say that the outfit’s commander Muhammad Naveed Jutt alias Abu Hanzala was among the three assailants who gunned down Shujaat Bukhari.
The terrorists were seen on CCTV camera, their faces hidden either by masks or a helmet. The man in the middle appeared to be carrying a sack full of weapons. The killers were heard in the busy marketplace shouting slogans after the assassination.
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