NEW DELHI, Jan 30: Five militants, including a ‘top commander’ were killed in two separate gunfights in South Kashmir’s Pulwama and Central Kashmir’s Budgam on Sunday, the Jammu and Kashmir police said. Police said four of them, including a foreigner, belonged to JeM, while one was from Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT).
“Five militants of Pakistan-sponsored militant outfits, Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and Jaish-e-Muhammad (JeM) were killed in dual encounters in last 12 hours,” J and K Inspector General of Police Vijay Kumar said.
The police identified one of the slain militants as JeM ‘commander’ Zahid Wani and a Pakistani militant, Kafeel alias Chotu. “A big success for us,” Kumar said. Kafeel was active since 2020 in Pulwama-Shopian belt, the police said.
Two anti-militancy operations were launched in Pulwama and Budgam on Saturday evening, triggering fierce gunfights. While four militants of the JeM were killed in Naira area of Pulwama, one LeT militant was killed in Charar-i-Shareef area of Budgam, the police said.
Four militants were killed in a gunfight that started on Saturday evening in Pulwama’s Naira village in South Kashmir. A joint team of police, army and paramilitary forces cordoned off Naira village in Pulwama after inputs about the presence of militants in the village. As they zeroed in on the target, militants fired indiscriminately trying to break the security cordon. The joint team of forces retaliated, leading to a fierce gunfight that lasted for several hours.
In a separate gunfight in Budgam, a Lashkar militant was killed after a faceoff with security personnel in Charar-i -Shareef village. “One terrorist affiliated with proscribed terror outfit LeT killed. Incriminating materials including an AK 56 rifle recovered. Search going on,” the police said.
On Saturday evening, suspected militants had shot dead a police head constable posted in Kulgam outside his residence at Hassanpora village of Bijbehara in South Kashmir.
Twenty one militants, including eight Pakistani, have been killed in 11 encounters this month so far.
(Manas Dasgupta)