Srinagar: Two Lashker-e-Toiba militants including a Pakistani commander Haider were killed in Devsar area of South Kashmir’s Kulgam district on Sunday afternoon, police said.
“Acting on specific information generated by police regarding the presence of (militants) in Cheyan Devsar area of Kulgam, Police and Army (9RR) launched a joint cordon and search operation in the area,” a police spokesperson said.
During the search operation, he said, as the joint search party approached towards the suspected spot, the hiding militants fired indiscriminately upon the joint search party which was effectively retaliated, leading to an encounter. Later on, he said, a team of CRPF also joined the operation.
“In the ensuing encounter, two militants of LeT including a Pakistani commander Haider was killed and their bodies were retrieved from the site of encounter.” The other killed militant has been identified as Shahbaz Shah of Kulgam.
As per police records, Haider was active for more than two years in North Kashmir and had recently shifted his base to South Kashmir. “The killed militant) was part of groups involved in several cases, civilian atrocities and various killings including recent killings of police personnel SgCT Mohammad Sultan and Ct Fayaz Ahmad on 10 November 2021 at Gulshan Chowk Bandipora.”
Besides, he was also involved in an attack on Naka party near Nishat Park Bandipora on 11 February 2022 in which SPO Zubair Ahmad was killed while as 04 other security personnel got injured including 03 police personnel and an ASI of BSF.
Shahbaz Shah was a hybrid militant and was involved in the killing of a civilian belonging to minority community namely Satish Kumar Singh on 13 April at Kakran area of Kulgam. After this attack he was categorized, the spokesman said.
“IGP Kashmir termed this operation as a big success and congratulated the joint team for conducting successful operation and eliminating the top wanted Pakistani militant Haider.”
Incriminating materials, arms and ammunition including 01 Ak-56 with 4 Magazines, 01 Pistol with a Magazine, 01 UBGL, 01 Pouch and ID Cards of LeT were recovered from the site of encounter. “All the recovered materials have been taken into case records for further investigation.”