Riyaz Naikoo's elimination is an important step in the security forces' fight against terror in J&K
Most-wanted terrorist Riyaz Naikoo's killing in a 36-hour encounter in south Kashmir marks a big success for security forces, which had been on the Hizbul Mujahideen commander's trail for 12 years and had been tracking his movements closely for the past six months.
After multiple disappointments and false leads, the police, army and the paramilitary finally zeroed in on their high value target at a house in a village in Pulwama's Beighpora on Tuesday. "Our ground team was 100 per cent sure that Riyaz Naikoo was hiding in that house," Dilbag Singh, Kashmir police chief, told NDTV on Thursday.
This time, the Jammu and Kashmir police were able to penetrate Naikoo's inner circle in the Hizbul. "We got the man who built the hideout," revealed the officer.
"For 15 days we worked day and night. The last three days, we were almost working on a minute-to-minute, second-to-second basis."
Riyaz Naikoo, 35, who used his tech skills to cover his tracks, had over a dozen hideouts in the south Kashmir region, where he was born. He was the longest surviving terror commander in Kashmir. His luck ran out after the police tracked down his closest contacts.
"It was the result of long, long hard work. A number of times we got very close, but he got away. We approached the hideouts, went there, searched there and came back empty-handed," Mr Singh shared.
In house-to-house searches, two possible hideouts were marked.
When the two-day encounter started on Tuesday, one security agency pulled out of the operation when Riyaz Naikoo could not be found during daylong searches. But the police remained.
"But the ground team was pretty sure. We had to believe our officers. We got the security agencies back, they stayed all night. We were 100 per cent sure he was in that house," the police chief said.
"The plan was you will not come back without getting him."
Fearing protests and violence as news spread that Naikoo was trapped, authorities cut mobile internet and messaging services in Kashmir yesterday. All private mobile networks except the state-run cell operator were suspended.
The forces were prepared for the possibility that there were underground tunnels in the house.
According to the police, Naikoo kept hiding the whole night, going from room to room, instead of firing back at the forces. Surprisingly for a terrorist of his notoriety, the level of fight was missing, Mr Singh remarked.
The breakthrough happened the next day. At 9 am on Wednesday, Naikoo's hideout was hit.
It was touch and go for a while, like any major security operation. Families had to be evacuated from the houses on target.
"There was great risk. We had serious injuries. One of our vehicles was almost broken by them with lathis as long as 12 feet as heavy as 15-20 kg," Mr Singh said.
The elimination of Naikoo is an important step in the security forces' fight against terror in Jammu and Kashmir.
The teacher-turned-terrorist had been recently offered the job of fronting an umbrella group of Pakistan-based terror outfits, TRF. The idea was to have a local like Naikoo as the joint terror commander.
"The killer is gone. The man responsible for killing a large number of civilians, migrant labour... who kidnapped and killed policemen, the killer of peace and prosperity. He is dead," Mr Singh said.
Naikoo had evaded the forces since 2012, during which time he recruited hundreds of innocent young men into terror. His death would make a great difference to local recruitment into terror, the police officer asserted.
