Three Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) militants, including a “foreigner”, were killed in an overnight operation in north Kashmir’s Sopore on Monday.
“All the three slain militants were commanders. Among them, Mudasir Pandit [a local] was the top-most commander, who was known by different names. He has been the LeT commander since June 2019. He was involved in several killings, including four civilians, nine security forces, two ex-militants, three sarpanches and two belonging to the Hurriyat and separatist cadres,” Jammu and Kashmir Director General of Police Dilbag Singh said.
One of the three slain was identified by the police as Asrar aka Abdullah, a foreigner.
Mr. Singh said, “The trio was involved in the Sopore attack on June 12, which left two policemen and two civilians dead. Earlier, they attacked a municipality building in Sopore on March 29 and killed two councillors and one policeman.”
The police said they recovered two AK-47, one AK-56, pistol and ammunition from the slain militants.
The security forces have killed two foreign militants in Kashmir, which is comparatively on a lower side than the previous years.
“After the abrogation of Article 370, Pandit was among the militants who tried to suppress the voice of people,” Mr. Singh stated. There was a good number of foreign militants present in Kashmir and they were lying low, he noted.
The fresh ceasefire pact between India and Pakistan in February last had helped check infiltration to a large extent. “We welcome that,” he added.
General Officer Commanding, Kilo Force, Maj. Gen. H.S. Sahi, has appealed to the local boys who have picked up guns to shun the gun culture and return to national mainstream. “If they do not wish to return to the mainstream, I assure that they will meet the same fate as was in the store for the three militants killed in the encounter,” he said.
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