AK-47 rifle snatched from TA soldier in November 2020 recovered from slain; slain commander had surrendered in 2008 and then joined LeT in March 2020, Operation a big success, says IGP Kashmir
BARAMULLA: A Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) commander was among two militants have been killed in an encounter that broke out between militants and security forces at Warpora village of Sopore in north Kashmir’s Baramulla district on Friday, police said.
A police official told the news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO) that acting on a specific lead about presence of militants in village Warpora, joint teams of police, army’s 22 RR and CRPF’s 179 and 92 Bn launched a cordon and search operation (CASO) late on Thursday night.
“As the joint team of forces approached towards the suspected spot, the hiding militants fired upon them, which retaliated, triggering an encounter,” the official said.
In the ensuing gunfight, two militants were killed. Inspector General of Police (IGP) Kashmir range, Vijay Kumar said that one AK-47 rifle recovered from the slain militants is the same as that of one snatched from a Territorial Army soldier during a militant attack on November 26, 2020. The IGP congratulated the forces for the successful operation and termed it as a big success.
A police spokesman in a statement to KNO that acting on a specific information generated by Srinagar Police about presence of militants in village Warpora area of Sopore, a joint cordon and search operation was launched by Police, 22RR and CRPF in the said area.
“During the search operation as the presence of militants got ascertained they were given repeated opportunities to surrender. However, instead of surrendering they fired indiscriminately upon the joint search party which retaliated leading to an encounter,” the spokesman said. “In the ensuing encounter, two categorized militants of LeT outfit were killed and their bodies were retrieved from the site of encounter.”
The spokesman said that the two slain were identified as Fayaz Ahmad War alias Rukana alias Umar son of Gh Mohi-Ud-Din War, a resident of Warpora a top commander of the LeT and Shaheen Ahmad Mir alias Shaheen Molvi son of Mohd Kamal Mir resident of Cherpora Budgam.
“As per police records, both the killed militants were part of groups involved in various cases and several cases were registered against them,” the spokesman said. Pertinently, killed militant Fayaz Ahmad War had a long history of militancy cases, as he was associated with militancy since 2008.
“Although he had surrendered earlier with arms and ammunition yet after his release he again worked as militant associate for HM outfit and was detained under PSA. However after his release, in March-2020 he again joined militant ranks of LeT,” the police spokesman, said, adding that “Besides, being part of groups involved in several crime cases, he was very instrumental in planning and executing attacks on security establishments and civilian killings and figured among the list of most wanted militants in North Kashmir. He was the last active militant who perpetrated a series of various crimes and violence in North Kashmir.
“Incriminating materials, arms and ammunition including two AK-47 rifles, four magazines were recovered from the site of encounter. All the recovered materials have been taken into case records for further investigation,” the spokesman said.