Militant Basit Dar killed, say J&K police

Two militants, one a ‘commander’ of the Resistance Front, were killed in a twoday anti-militancy operation in south Kashmir’s Kulgam on Tuesday.

“Two terrorists were neutralised during the operation. The bodies have been retrieved. Basit Dar is one of the slain militants. He is an ‘A’ category militant of the TRF and was involved in more than 18 cases. Dar’s killing is a signi£cant achievement for us,” Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Kashmir, Vidhi Kumar Birdi, said.

He said that the police have “ample evidence about the involvement of Dar in hatching a conspiracy and planning attacks on the members of minorities and civilians, besides the police personnel”.

The militants were trapped during an operation in Redwani Payeen of the Kulgam district on Monday afternoon.

“We had received a tipo¦ about the movement of militants in the area. During a joint cordon operation of the police, Army and [Central Reserve Police Force] CRPF, the hiding militants opened £re. The operation continued into the night. We are still clearing the debris,” Mr. Birdi said.

The gun£ght between the security forces and the holed-up militants continued till Tuesday morning.

Mr. Birdi said that “as per law”, the militants had been o¦ered an opportunity “to surrender”, but added, “However, they did not pay heed to the caution of the security forces.”

O¤cials said Dar had been active in Srinagar.

He joined the TRF, believed to be an o¦-shoot of the Lashkar-e-Taiba, in 2021.