Terrorist who shot dead bank manager among 2 killed in J&K
SRINAGAR: Two Lashkar-eTaiba (LeT) terrorists, including one behind the murder of a bank manager, were killed in an encounter with security forces in Jammu and Kashmir’s Shopian district on Wednesday, police said.
The slain terrorists, both from Shopian district, were identified as Jan Mohd Lone of Brari Pora village and Tufail Nazir Ganie of Ramnagri village, a police spokesperson said.
Both were linked with proscribed terror outfit LeT and were part of groups involved in several crime cases, including attacks on police, security forces and atrocities on civilians, according to J&K police record.
Jan Mohd Lone was involved in the killing of bank manager Vijay Kumar in Kulgam on June 2, said inspector general of police, Kashmir zone, Vijay Kumar. “Jan Mohd was earlier working as OGW (Over Ground Worker) of LeT’s district commander Adil Ramzan and he killed the bank manager on the direction of the said LeT commander,” the IGP said. “After this terror crime, he actively joined terror rank. Since then we have been tracking him.”
The other killed terrorist, Tufail Nazir Ganie, earlier escaped from two encounters at Chaki Samad and Khur-Batpora area of Kulgam on of Kulgam April 9 and April 11 respectively this year, Kumar said.
Earlier the J&K police spokesperson said that a joint cordon and search operation was launched by police, army (34 Rashtriya Rifles) and CRPF (178 Battalion) after receiving information regarding presence of terrorists in Kanji Ullar area of Shopian.
“During the search operation, as the joint party approached towards the suspected spot, the hiding terrorists fired indiscriminately upon them which was retaliated effectively leading to an encounter,” the spokesperson added. In the ensuing encounter, the two terrorists were killed and their bodies were retrieved from the site of encounter.
Incriminating materials, arms and ammunition, including one AK-47 rifle and a pistol, 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 terror crimes, the spokesperson said.
On June 2, Vijay Kumar, the 26-year-old bank manager from Rajasthan, and Dilkhush Kumar, a labourer from Bihar, were shot dead by terrorists in Kulgam and Budgam districts respectively, amid a spate of attacks on non-locals in the Valley. At least 16 people - both Hindu and Muslims - have been killed in targeted attacks in Kashmir this year. Kumar said troops were tracking terrorists and had killed eight involved in killings in recent weeks.
At least 104 militants have been killed in Kashmir this year, double the toll in the same period last year, he said.