Srinagar: Two Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terrorists, including the one allegedly involved in the recent killing of a bank manager, were killed in an encounter with security forces in south Kashmir’s Shopian district on Wednesday, police said.
Acting on specific information regarding the presence of militants in Shopian’s Kanji Ullar village, a cordon-and-search operation was launched by the security forces in the area, according to a police spokesperson.
“During the search operation, as the forces approached the suspected spot, the terrorists fired indiscriminately on them, which was retaliated effectively,” police spokesperson said.
He said in the ensuing encounter, two militants were killed and their bodies were retrieved from the encounter site. They were identified as Jan Mohammad Lone, a resident of Braripora in Shopian, and Tufail Nazir Ganie, a resident of Ramnagri in Shopian, the spokesperson said.
He added that according to police records, the slain militants “were linked with proscribed outfit LeT and were part of groups involved in several terror crime cases, including attacks on police and other security forces and civilian atrocities.”
Inspector General of Police (IGP), Kashmir zone, Vijay Kumar said one of the slain militants, identified as Jan Mohammad Lone, was allegedly involved in the killing of a bank manager in Kulgam district recently.
“One of the killed #terrorists has been identified as Jan Mohd Lone of #Shopian. Besides other #terror crimes, he was involved in recent killing of Vijay Kumar, Bank manager on 2/6/22 in #Kulgam district,” the IGP tweeted.
He also revealed that Lone was earlier working as an overground worker (OGW) for LeT district commander Adil Ramzan and had killed the bank manager on the latter’s directions.
“After this terror crime, he actively joined the terror ranks and we have been tracking him ever since. Ganie had earlier escaped from two encounters in Kulgam’s Chaki Samad area on April 09 and Khur-Batpora area on April 11,” Kumar said.
Incriminating materials, arms and ammunition, including an AK-47 rifle and a pistol, were recovered from the encounter site. All the recovered materials have been taken into the case records for further investigation, the spokesperson said.
He said Kumar congratulated the joint teams for carrying out the operation “in a professional manner and without any collateral damage”. He also appreciated the efforts of the police “in tracking down and neutralising the terrorist involved in the bank manager’s killing.”
