Shopian: Police on Friday said that a Lashkar-e-Toiba militant was killed in Chotigam of Shopian district, who according to police was involved in killing of army personnel, two labourers and Kashmiri pandiths.
In a handout to Kashmir Newsville, the police said that acting on specific information regarding presence of militants in village Chotigam area of Shopian, a joint cordon and search operation was launched in the wee hours by Police, Army (34RR) and CRPF (178Bn) in the said area.
According to police spokesman, during the search operation, as the joint party approached towards the suspected spot, the hiding militant fired indiscriminately upon the joint search party, which was retaliated effectively, leading to an encounter. In the ensuing encounter, 01 militant was killed and his body was retrieved from the site of encounter. He has been identified as Bilal Ahmed Bhat son of Ghulam Rasool Bhat resident of Chek Cholan, affiliated with proscribed militant outfit LeT.
As per police records the killed militant was involved in several crime cases including killing of local army personnel namely Umer Fayaz son of Fayaz Ahmad Parray resident of Sudsan Kulgam, hurled grenade upon non-local labours in Hermain, resulting in on spot death of two labourers. He was also involved in killing of Kashmiri pandith namely Sunil Kumar Bhat son of Sri G Bhat & injuring other Kashmiri pandit Pretimber Nath son of Arjun Nath Bhat, both residents of Chotigam Shopian. He was also involved in attack on local Bal Krishan @Sonu resident of Chotigam. Moreover, he was involved in instigating local youth to join militant ranks and induced 12 local youth into the ranks of militants, he said.
Besides other militant crimes, he was also involved in killing of arrested militant who was leading the search party during a CASO at Nowgam in the year 2022, he said.
Incriminating materials, arms & ammunition including 01 AK series rifle, 03 magazines were recovered from the site of encounter. All the recovered materials have been taken into case records for further investigation and to probe their complicity in other terror crimes, he said.
In this regard, Police have registered a case under relevant sections of law and investigation has been initiated. People are requested to cooperate with police till the area is completely sanitized and cleared off of all the explosive materials, if any, reads the statement.
