IED expert LeM dy chief among 2 militants killed in Anantnag

Troops during encounter in Anantnag on Wednesday. — Excelsior/Sajad Dar
Troops during encounter in Anantnag on Wednesday. — Excelsior/Sajad Dar

Fayaz Bukhari
Srinagar, Feb 24: In a major success for security forces in Kashmir, deputy chief of Lashkar-e-Mustafa (LeM), who was an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) expert, was among two militants killed in an encounter in Anantnag today.
Inspector General of Police (IGP) Kashmir, Vijay Kumar, told Excelsior that two militants were killed in an encounter with the security forces in Shalgul Srigufwara in Bijbehara area of South Kashmir’s Anantnag district.

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He identified them as Adil Bhat alias Gazi Baba of Shetipora and Junaid Shafi of Shopian. He said that Gazi Baba was deputy chief of LeM and was an IED expert who was involved in recent IED blast in Bijbehara area of Anantnag district. He described his killing as a major success for the security forces in South Kashmir.
Earlier, police, Army’s 3 RR and CRPF launched a cordon and search operation based on specific information about presence of militants in the area.
Police said that during the search operation, as the presence of militants was ascertained, they were given an opportunity to surrender. However, they fired indiscriminately upon the joint search party, which was retaliated, leading to an encounter.
As the troops approached towards the suspected spot, the hiding militants fired upon them, which was retaliated, triggering an encounter.
“In the ensuing encounter, two unidentified militants were killed and their bodies were retrieved from the site of encounter”, police said.
Police said that in case any family claims the slain militants to be their kith or kin, they can come forward for their identification at PCR Kashmir.
“Arms and ammunition including two AK rifles and other incriminating materials were recovered from the site of encounter. All the recovered materials have been taken into case records for further investigation and to probe their complicity in other cases,” police added.
Police have registered a case under relevant Sections of law and investigation has been initiated. “People are requested to cooperate with police till the area is completely sanitized and cleared off of all the explosive materials if any,” Police said.
As a precautionary measure, the internet services were snapped in the entire district.