NEW DELHI/SRINAGAR: The Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) commander killed in an operation Tuesday/Wednesday night was linked to several major terror attacks in Jammu and Kashmir, security agencies revealed today.
Pertinent to mention here that security forces killed a senior commander, identified as Musa alias Asif Fauji, during an intelligence-based joint operation in Budgam district of Jammu and Kashmir, according to officials.
The operation was carried out at Gurwatkalan in the Khansahib area after security agencies received specific technical and human intelligence inputs regarding the militant’s movement and presence, officials said.
According to the official statement, security forces had been tracking Musa for a considerable period and had recently put in place a coordinated operational plan involving multiple agencies to neutralise him.
Officials described Musa’s killing as a significant setback to the LeT network in Jammu and Kashmir. They claimed he was among a group of four senior LeT commanders active in the Union Territory since 2022 and allegedly involved in a series of major militant attacks, including the Halan attack in August 2023, DKG attack in December 2023, Kandi attack in May 2023, Shahsitar attack in May 2024, Shiv Khori attack in June 2024, Gagangir attack in October 2024, Bootapathri attack in October 2024 and the Baisaran attack in April 2025.
Security agencies said the three other members of the group had been killed in separate operations over the past two years. They identified them as Junaid Bhat, killed in an encounter at Dachigam in December 2024; Suleman, killed during Operation Mahadev in July 2025; and Yasir, killed in Operation Asdhar in September 2026.
Officials said the operation against Musa was part of a sustained counter-terrorism campaign in the region.
They added that the Jammu and Kashmir Police, Indian Army and Central Armed Police Forces have been conducting coordinated counter-insurgency operations in recent years, which, according to them, have yielded significant results.
CISF DG visits Kathua, takes stock of fratricidal firing incident
Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) Director General Praveer Ranjan on Wednesday visited the camp in Kathua district where four personnel, including an assistant commandant, were killed in a fratricidal incident a day earlier, officials said.
The visit was aimed at carrying out an on-ground assessment and gathering first-hand information about the circumstances leading to the incident, they said.
Kathua Senior Superintendent of Police Mohita Sharma, along with senior officers of the CISF and Jammu and Kashmir Police, also reached the camp during the DG’s visit, officials said.
The officers reviewed the situation and discussed the sequence of events that led to the firing, they said.
Four CISF personnel, including an assistant commandant and a sub-inspector, were killed after a colleague allegedly opened fire on them following an altercation inside the Sewa-III Hydroelectric Power Project, located at Mashka village in Basohli, close to the Himachal Pradesh border, on Tuesday evening. The accused CISF personnel were subsequently overpowered and arrested.
The CISF chief interacted with senior officers and personnel at the camp and sought detailed information about the circumstances surrounding the incident, including the sequence of events before, during and after the firing, officials said.
The DG also assessed the situation at the camp and took stock of the measures undertaken following the incident.
Later, accompanied by senior police and force officers, Ranjan visited the NHPC hospital in the adjoining Chamba area of Himachal Pradesh, where the bodies of the deceased personnel had been kept.
The CISF has already ordered a departmental inquiry into the incident, officials said. (PTI)
