Srinagar: Security forces on Monday morning gunned down top JeM terrorist and the mastermind of the Pulwama CRPF convoy terror attack that resulted in killing of 40 troopers, Ghazi Abdul Rasheed alias Kamran. Besides Ghazi, two other Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) terrorists were killed in a fierce encounter which also claimed the lives of four army men including a major.
A senior police official said that Ghazi Rasheed was killed by the security forces along with two other terrorists.
He said that on receiving specific inputs about presence of JeM terrorists in Pinglena village of Pulwama, a joint team of 55 Rashtriya Rifles, CRPF, and Special Operation Group of the state police launched a cordon and search operation in wee hours of Monday.
“As the cordon was tightened, the holed-up terrorists fired triggering a fierce gunfight,” said the police official.
The gun battle also claimed the lives of a Major and three other soldiers of different ranks along with a civilian.
Till reports last came in, heavy firing exchanges between the security forces and the remaining terrorists hiding in the area was on.
Here it may be mentioned that Ghazi Rasheed, a Pakistani national, was a close and trusted aide of Pakistan based terror outfit JeM chief Maulana Masood Azhar. He was an Afghan war veteran and an IED specialist.
Gazi had joined the terror group JeM in 2008 and had trained Pulwama suicide bomber Adil Dar and was commanding all Jaish operations in the Kashmir valley.