National Investigation Agency (NIA) officers on Tuesday raided the Srinagar residence of Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) chairman Yasin Malik.

The counter-terrorism agency men along with the state police and others cordoned off Malik’s residence at around 7.30 am, a JKLF source said.

“This raid was carried out while the JKLF chief was still lodged in Kothibagh police station,” he added.

NIA confirmation as to what prompted the raid was awaited.

In a major crackdown on separatists, Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front Chief Yasin Malik was arrested from his residence in Srinagar in a late night raid on Friday.

Malik was arrested from his Maisuma residence and has been taken to the Kothibagh Police Station.

Several Jamaat-e-Islami leaders were also arrested in the raid, including its chief, (Ameer-e-Jamaat) Abdul Hamid Fayaz, a Jamaat spokesman said.

The nocturnal raids were conducted in the south, central and north Kashmir districts to mop up the senior-most members of the political group.

Following this, the Centre deployed a hundred additional companies of paramilitary forces to the state on an urgent basis.

After notice from the Home Ministry late on Friday night, 100 additional companies of paramilitary soldiers were airlifted to Srinagar to support the Jammu and Kashmir Police and the existing security forces in handling the situation.

In a major step taken in the aftermath of the Pulwama terror attack, the Centre on February 17 withdrew the security cover of five top separatists – Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, Abdul Gani Bhat, Bilal Lone, Hashim Qureshi and Shabir Shah.

Soon after, on Wednesday, the Jammu and Kashmir government downgraded and withdrew the security of 18 separatists which also included Hurriyat leaders include Syed Alishah Geelani and Yasin Malik who were left out when security cover of five separatists was withdrawn earlier the week.

There has been a state of emergency in the Valley after the Pulwama terror attack in which over 44 CRPF personnel were killed and many injured on February 14 in one of the deadliest terror strikes in Jammu-Kashmir when a Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) suicide bomber blew up an explosive-laden vehicle near their bus in Pulwama district.