Top commander among Lashkar duo killed in J&K encounter

SRINAGAR: Two Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorists, including a top commander, were killed in an encounter in Sopore’s Warpora area in north Kashmir’s Baramulla district on Friday.
The slain terrorists were identified as self-styled commander Fayaz Ahmad War alias Rukana alias Umar, a resident of Warpora; and his aide Shaheen Ahmad Mir alias Shaheen Molvi, a resident of Budgam’s Cherpora, IGP (Kashmir range) Vijay Kumar said. Both were part of groups involved in numerous terror crimes. With War’s killing, the last perpetrator of recent violence in north Kashmir has been slain, said IGP Kumar. Among the terrorists killed in Kashmir Valley this year, most belonged to Lashkar, official records revealed.
Instrumental in planning and executing attacks on security establishments besides civilian killings, War was one of the most wanted terrorists in north Kashmir, the IGP said. Active since 2008, War was earlier associated with terrorist outfit Hizbul Mujahideen before surrendering with arms and ammunition and being detained under the Public Safety Act. After his release in March 2020, he again picked up arms and joined Lashkar.
He was the last active terrorist who perpetrated a series of various terror crimes and violence in north Kashmir, including attacking a police party at Warpora in March last year in which a cop and a civilian were killed; killing three CRPF personnel and a civilian at Ahad Baba crossing a month later; killing a CRPF trooper and a civilian in Sopore; killing two municipal councillors and a cop in Sopore, and killing two policemen and two civilians at Main Chowk Sopore.
War was also involved in a series of grenade attacks on police and security establishments in several areas in Sopore. On May 26, 2020, he carried out a grenade attack on a police post in Potukhah; on December 12, 2020, he carried out a grenade attack on PP Bus Stand in which four civilians were injured; on March 13, 2021, he conducted another grenade attack on PP Bus Stand in which two cops were injured.
Giving details of Friday’s encounter, the IGP said a joint team of the Army, J&K Police and CRPF launched a cordon-and-search operation in Warpora late Thursday evening. Holed-in terrorists were repeatedly asked to surrender, but they rained bullets on the search party, triggering a gunfight in which the Lashkar duo was killed.
Arms and ammunition and other incriminating items were recovered from the spot of the encounter, the IGP added.