Fayaz Bukhari
SRINAGAR, Dec 5: Police today said that the divisional commander of Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) was among three militants killed in Qazigund encounter last night while one militant was captured along with weapon.
They said that two of the killed militants were involved in the attack on an Amarnath yatra bus in Anantnag district during summer this year in which 8 pilgrims were killed and 19 others injured.
Inspector General of Police Kashmir, Muneer Ahmad Khan, said here that three bodies of militants were recovered from the debris of the building at Qazigund during the night and 3 AK-47 rifles and magazines were recovered.
Khan said that one of the militants was a local and identified him as Yawar while another local Rashid Ilahi was captured along with weapon. He said that two foreigners were identified as Furqan and Maviya.
The IGP said that one Army personnel was killed and another injured in the attack and encounter that followed. He said that it was a well coordinated operation in which response of troops was timely and swift in cornering militants in a building who were ultimately eliminated.
Khan said that Yawar and Maviya were involved in the attack on Yatra this year and almost all the militants involved in that attack are now dead. He said that only one Shakoor is still at large and will also be neutralized soon.
The IGP said that top commanders of the LeT were eliminated and it is a big setback to the LeT. He revealed that OGW network of LeT has already been busted and said in fact it is on their leads that they were eliminated.
Furqan was divisional commander of LeT and had replaced Ismail in South Kashmir and was responsible for the recent attacks carried out by LeT in South Kashmir.
Police said it arrested a newly-recruited militant who had fled from encounter site at Qazigund from a hospital in Anantnag district. “Pursuing the leads available at Qazigund encounter, one individual Rashid Ahmed Allai son of Farooq Ahmed of Hamzapora Sangam Bijbehara was arrested from Janglat Mandi maternity hospital with a Chinese pistol and live cartridges last night night.
Police said that Rashid was missing for last two days from his house and had joined the Yawar group of LeT. “Investigation conducted so far have established that he was with the three militants at the encounter site and managed to escape”, police said.
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