Srinagar: Inspector General of Police Kashmir Zone, Vijay Kumar on Sunday said that two Lashker-e-Toiba militants including a commander were killed in Kulgam encounter and they were involved in civilian and police killings. The encounter broke out Saturday night at Cheyan Devsar area of Kulgam after Police and 9 RR cordoned off the area to track the terrorists, he said.
“Encounter has started at Cheyan Devsar area of Kulgam. Police and Army on the job. Further details shall follow.@JmuKmrPolice,” Kashmir Zone Police Tweeted on Sunday morning.
Later in another tweet, IGP Kashmir said a foreign terrorist Haider along with a local is trapped in encounter. He said that Haider was active in north Kashmir for two years and had recently shifted the base to south Kashmir.
The Kashmir police chief said that Haider was involved in civilian and police killings that included attacks on police in Bandipora. “KulgamEncounterUpdate: 1 Pakistani terrorist (Haider) of LeT terror outfit & a local terrorist trapped in on-going encounter. Haider was active in north Kashmir for more than 2 years and involved in several terror crimes. Details follow: IGP Kashmir@JmuKmrPolice,” police said in a Tweet quoting Vijay Kumar.
“Pakistani terrorist Haider was involved in 2 recent terror crimes in Bandipora.In incident on 10-11-21, SgCT Mohd Sultan & CT Fayaz attained martyrdom. In second incident on 11-2-22, SPO Zubair Ahmad attained martyrdom & 03 policemen including 01 ASI of BSF injured: IGP Kashmir,” IGP Kashmir was quoted in another tweet.
“Acting on specific information generated by police regarding the presence of terrorists in Cheyan Devsar area of Kulgam, Police and Army (09RR) launched a joint cordon & search operation in the said area,” police said. “During the search operation, as the joint search party approached towards the suspected spot, the hiding terrorists fired indiscriminately upon the joint search party which was effectively retaliated leading to an encounter. Later on a team of CRPF also joined,” Police said.
In the ensuing encounter, police said: “ Two terrorists of proscribed terror outfit LeT including a Pakistani terrorist commander Haider was killed and their bodies were retrieved from the site of encounter. The other killed terrorist has been identified as Shahbaz Shah of Kulgam.”
As per police records “ the killed terrorist Haider was categorised terrorist who was active for more than two years in north Kashmir and had recently shifted his base to south Kashmir,” Police said. “ The killed terrorist was part of groups involved in several terror crimes, civilian atrocities and various killings including recent killings of police personnel SgCT Mohammad Sultan and Ct Fayaz Ahmad on 10/11/2021 at Gulshan Chowk Bandipora. Besides, he was also involved in an attack on Naka party near Nishat Park Bandipora in which SPO Zubair Ahmad attained martyrdom while as 04 other security personnel got injured including 03 police personnel and an ASI of BSF.”
“The other killed terrorist Shahbaz Shah was a hybrid terrorist and was involved in the killing of a civilian belonging to minority community namely Satish Kumar Singh on 13/04/2022 at Kakran area of Kulgam,”Police said. “After this attack said terrorist was categorised.”
Police quoted IGP Kashmir terming this operation as a big success and congratulated the joint team for conducting successful operation and eliminating the top wanted Pakistani terrorist Haider. Incriminating material, arms and ammunition including 1 Ak-56 with 4 Magazines, 01 Pistol with a Magazine, 01 UBGL, 01 Pouch and ID Cards of LeT were recovered from the site of encounter. All the recovered materials have been taken into case records for further investigation.
In this regard, a case under relevant sections of law has been registered and investigation has been initiated. People are requested to cooperate with Police till the area at the encounter site is completely sanitized and cleared of all the explosive materials, if any, Police said.