Srinagar: The security forces on Saturday morning killed a top Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terrorist along with his associate in a fierce gunfight in South Kashmir’s Pulwama district.
The neutralised terrorist was the last serviving aide of slain terrorist Burhan Wani. His name was Wasim Shah alias Usman, the district commander of LeT and was operating in Pulwama and Shopian districts. Wasim Shah’s aide Naseer Mir, a local of Pulwama was also killed in the encounter, said senior police official.
He said that Shah was a resident of Shopian district, while Mir belonged to Litter village of Pulwama, where the encounter with the security forces took place.
From the slain terrorists, one AK-47 and one AK-56 rifle and six magazines were recovered.
However, the operation in the area is now over but search operations were still on, added the police official.
On receiving specific intelligence inputs about the presence of the terrorists in Litter village of Pulwama, the security forces comprising the Rashtriya Rifle, the CRPF and the SOG of the state police swung into action and surrounded the house in which the two terrorists were hiding.
“In order to break the security cordon, the hiding terrorists started firing at the security cordon triggering an encounter that lasted for over an hour during which both the terrorists were killed,” said the police official.
He said that after the news about the killings of the LeT terrorists spread in the area, announcements were made through mosque public address systems asking people to come out and stage protests.
Protesters gathered in large numbers in the area shouting Pro-Islam slogans.
The security forces had to fire at the violent crowd that had assembled following the call from the mosque. “Three locals have received injuries and condition of one of them is stated to be critical,” said a police official.
He, however, added that the situation was under control with search operation still on in the area.