New Delhi: The two terrorists killed in Srinagar seemed to be foreign ‘fidayeen’ (suicide attackers), Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde said on Thursday.
Items recovered from them appeared to be of Pakistani make, Shinde told parliament.
Five Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel were killed by the two militants before they themselves were gunned down.
According to Shinde, an ointment tube recovered from the slain men was found to be manufactured in Karachi. They also had diaries with telephone numbers.
“The numbers in the diaries appears to be of Pakistani origin,” he said, speaking in the Lok Sabha after opposition leader Sushma Swaraj.
“Their bodies were shaven which confirms them to be fidayeens. The killed terrorists are suspected to be of foreign origin,” he said.
The minister said responsibility for the attack had been taken by a caller for Hizb-ul-Mujahideen but the authenticity of the claim was yet to be ascertained.
Sushma Swaraj’s remarks that the government should be careful vis-a-vis lifting the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) from Jammu and Kashmir irked the National Conference.
The remark sparked off heated exchanges between National Conference and BJP members.
“We must not be emotional about the issue. We should take ground realities into account as the incident happened in areas where there is a demand for lifting AFSPA,” said Sushma Swaraj. (IANS)