Two Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) militants were killed in an overnight operation in north Kashmir’s Sopore on Friday.
“The presence of terrorists was ascertained in Warpora village of Sopore during a joint cordon and search operation on Thursday night. They were given opportunities to surrender. However, they fired indiscriminately. Two LeT terrorists were killed in the operation,” Inspector General of Police (IGP) Vijay Kumar said.
The police identified the slain militants as Fayaz Ahmad War alias Rukana alias Umar from Warpora and Shaheen Ahmad Mir alias Shaheen Molvi from Cherpora in Budgam.
“War was a top commander of the LeT. He had a long history of terror crime cases, as he was associated with terrorism since year 2008,” Mr. Kumar said.
War had surrendered earlier but “after his release, he again worked as terrorist associate for the Hizb-ul-Mujahideen and was detained under the Public Safety Act”.
Mr. Kumar said, “In March 2020, War rejoined terrorist ranks. He was instrumental in planning and executing terror attacks on security establishments and civilian killings and figured among the list of most wanted terrorists in north Kashmir. He was the last active terrorist who perpetrated a series of various terror crimes and violence in north Kashmir”.
According to the police, War was behind the major attacks in 2020 and 2021 in north Kashmir. “He was also behind the firing upon municipal councillors in Sopore,” the police stated.
Arms and ammunition, including two AK-47 rifles and four magazines, were recovered from the encounter site, the police added.
