Major success for security forces, HM leaderless: DGP
Fayaz Bukhari
Srinagar, Nov 1: In a major success for the security forces, chief operational commander of Hizbul Mujahideen, Dr Saifullah was today killed in a gun battle on the outskirts of Srinagar.
Police along with CRPF this morning trapped chief operational commander of Hizbul Mujahideen, Saif-ul Islam Mir alias Dr Saif alias Ghazi Haider, resident of Malangpora in Rangreth area of Srinagar. The 53-RR of Army later joined the operation.
The militant commander was given opportunity to surrender. However, he fired indiscriminately upon the joint search party, which was retaliated leading to an encounter in which he was killed.
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Director General of Police, Dilbag Singh, termed the killing of the Hizb commander as a major success for the security forces.
Addressing a press conference at PCR Srinagar, Singh said that many people would heave a sigh of relief as they had lost their loved ones and a shadow of grief and mourning descended on their families due to Saifullah.
He said that Saifullah was a top and longest surviving militant commander in the Valley and he was involved in the killing of several innocent people.
“He was active since 2014 when Burhan Wani was leading the Hizbul Mujahideen militant outfit and that is why after the killing of Hizbul chief Reyaz Naikoo on May 6 this year, he was given the charge of chief operational commander in the Valley. He was in the list of dreaded militants even before taking the command of Hizbul Mujahideen,” the DGP said.
“Dr Saifullah was also involved in the killing of various innocent people including three policemen, two truck drivers who were attacked after the abrogation of Article 370 in which a truck driver and a conductor were killed. He was also involved in the recent attack on a Sarpanch, who got injured in Kulgam district,” the DGP said.
He said that Saifullah was also involved in recent attacks on various security installations across Kashmir.
“We were tracking his movement from the last two days and I would like to congratulate Anantnag police for tracking his movement and sharing the inputs with Srinagar police and today we finally managed to neutralize him,” he said.
Replying to a question, Singh said that more than 200 militants have been killed this year so far in Jammu and Kashmir, who include 190 in Kashmir valley and over a dozen in Jammu division.
He also said that anti-militancy operations like last year would continue even during the winter and would be carried out with more vigour and severity.
The DGP also said that after the killing of Reyaz Naikoo, Hizbul Mujahideen had become leaderless and after the killing of Dr Saifullah, it has become leaderless once again.
Replying to a question, the DGP said that security forces had inputs that Dr Saifullah and his men were planning to attack some more security installations and civilian areas in the Valley
IGP Kashmir Vijay Kumar has appreciated police and security forces for the big success. He said that Saifullah was not involved in the killing of three BJP workers. “Nisar Khanday and Abbas Sheikh are involved in their killing and a hunt against them is on”, he added.
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