Two militants were killed in an encounter in the upper reaches of a forest range connecting Srinagar and Anantnag districts on Saturday morning.
The police said one of the two killed in the encounter was a wanted Jaish-e-Muhammad (JeM) militant from Pakistan who belonged to the family of the outfit’s chief Azhar Masood.
“Mohammar Ismal Alvi alias Lamboo alias Adnan was among the two militants killed. He belonged to Masood's family. He was also involved in conspiracy and planning of the Lethpora attack [in Pulwama],” Inspector General of Police Vijay Kumar said.
He said Lamboo stayed with Adil Dar, who rammed an explosive laden vehicle into a convoy in Pulwama that left 40 CRPF jawans dead in 2019, till the day of ‘fidayeen’ attack.
“The viral video of Dar had his voice in it,” he added.
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The encounter broke out early in the morning during a search operation in a forest range falling between Nagberan and Marsar zones, closer to the Dachigam forest range of Srinagar. In the past, the upper range of Dachigam saw very few encounters.
In the stepped-up operations against militants this year, around 85 militants have been killed in the Valley.