LeT deputy commander among 3 militants killed in J-K’s Pulwama encounter

Srinagar, Apr 24 (PTI) Three Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) militants, including a deputy commander of the banned outfit, were killed in an encounter with security forces in Pulwama district of Jammu and Kashmir on Sunday, police said.

The terrorists were identified as Arif Ahmad Hazar alias Rehan (deputy of LeT’s top commander Basit), Abu Huzaifa alias Haqqani (Pakistani terrorist) and Natish Wani alias Haider, a resident of Khanyar, Srinagar. Based on specific inputs regarding the presence of terrorists in the Pahoo area of Pulwama in south Kashmir, a search operation was launched by the security forces there, a police spokesman said.

During the search operation, the hiding terrorists fired indiscriminately upon the search party which was retaliated effectively leading to an encounter, he said. In the ensuing encounter, three terrorists linked with the proscribed terror outfit were killed and their bodies were retrieved from the site of the encounter, the spokesman said. As per police records, all the killed terrorists were part of groups involved in several terror cases, including attacks on police/security forces and civilian atrocities.

Hazar was a categorised terrorist, active since March 2021, and several cases were registered against him in Srinagar city. “He was involved in killings of several police officers and civilians, including inspector Parvez in front of a mosque at Menganwari Nowgam in June 2021 and sub-inspector Arshid Ahmad Mir near Khanyar police station in September 2021,” the spokesman said.

The spokesman said Hazar was also involved in grenade attacks on a police patrolling party at Safakadal and joint naka (police check post) party at  Rainawari. “Hazar, along with his associates, was also involved in an attack on BJP leader’s residence at Aribagh, Nowgam, in Srinagar. In this terror attack, policeman Rameez Raja attained martyrdom and his service rifle was also snatched. He was also involved in attack on two outside labourers at Suthsoo Kalan area of Nowgam on April 22,” the spokesman said.

Incriminating materials, arms and ammunition were recovered from the site of the encounter and all the recovered materials have been taken into case records for further investigation, the spokesman said. Later, the Srinagar police said that a teenager (Haider) from Khanyar, Srinagar, who joined terror ranks a week ago, killed in an encounter in Pulwama, along with two other terrorists. “Active terrorists exploit gullible youths for their own ulterior motives. Such madness by youths leads to destruction of families and nothing else,” police said in a tweet.

Meanwhile, Inspector General of Police (Kashmir), Vijay Kumar, termed the operation a big success and congratulated the joint forces for carrying out the anti-terrorist operation in a professional manner without any collateral damage.