Two LeT terrorists killed in encounter

SRINAGAR: Two Lashkar-eTaiba (LeT) terrorists, including a top commander of the outfit, were killed in an overnight encounter with security forces in the Sopore area of Jammu and Kashmir’s Baramulla district, police said on Friday.

A police spokesperson said the security forces launched a cordon-and-search operation in the Warpora area of Sopore on Thursday, following specific information about the presence of ultras there.

“During the search operation, as the presence of terrorists got ascertained, they were given repeated opportunities to surrender. However, instead of surrendering, they fired indiscriminately upon the joint search party which was retaliated, leading to an encounter,” he said.

In the ensuing encounter, two “categorised terrorists of proscribed terror outfit LeT” were killed, and their bodies were retrieved from the site of encounter, the official said.

He identified them as Fayaz Ahmad War, alias Rukana, alias Umar, of Warpora, who was a top commander of the LeT, and Shaheen Ahmad Mir, alias Shaheen Molvi, of Cherpora Budgam.

“As per police records, both the slain terrorists were part of groups involved in various terror crime cases and several terror crime cases were registered against them,” he added.

The spokesman said War had been associated with terrorism since 2008.

“Although he had surrendered earlier with arms and ammunition, after his release, he again worked as a terrorist associate for proscribed terror outfit HM and was detained under PSA. However, after his release in March 2020, he joined terrorist ranks of proscribed terror outfit LeT,” the spokesperson said.

Besides being part of groups involved in several terror crime cases, War was very 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, the spokesperson said.