'Two terrorists of Hizbul Mujahideen’s hit squad killed in encounter': IGP Kashmir

Inspector-General of Police Vijay Kumar on Friday said two local terrorists who have been neutralised in an encounter in Pulwama's Khrew area were part of a hit squad of the Hizbul Mujahideen (HM) terror outfit.“They (slain terrorists) were part of a hit squad of HM and were also responsible for civilian killing in south Kashmir,” said IGP, Kashmir Zone, Vijay Kumar.

Two terrorists neutralised in Pulwama

While stating that the killing of these terrorists is a big relief for the local population, the Kashmir IGP said that the terrorists were trying to recruit the youth in the area. Giving out further details, Kumar said, "Those killed have been identified as Musaib Mushtaq of Khrew and Muzamil Ahmed Rather of Chakoora Pulwama. Musaib was involved in the killing of a school peon, Javid Ahmad of Lurgan last month."

Remarking that the Indian Army has given enough chances to the terrorists to surrender, the Kashmir IGP said that the police had made appeals through loudspeakers asking them to lay down their weapons. "We gave them time, but they didn't surrender," he added. 

The gunbattle broke out in the wee hours of Friday after J&K police along with the army cordoned off the area following a tip-off about the presence of terrorists there. In the ensuing firefight, IGP Kumar said, two terrorists were killed while an AK 47 rifle, a pistol and ammunition were recovered from the encounter site,” added he.

According to official data, this year so far, terror outfits have suffered significant losses as 94 terrorists including top commanders of Hizbul Mujahideen, Jaish-e-Muhammad, the Al Qaeda-affiliated Ansar Ghazwat-Ul-Hind and Lashkar-e-Taiba outfits have been killed in various gun battles across the Kashmir Valley. Out of 94 slain terrorists, 85 were local terrorists when 09 were Pakistani terrorists. 

One of the biggest successes for police and security forces this year so far was when top commanders, Adnan Ismail alias Lamboo and Usman were killed.  Lamboo was from the Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) outfit and was involved in the 2019 Pulwama Fidayeen (suicide) attack, was killed in south Kashmir’s Pulwama district on 31st July.
In 2017, Lamboo infiltrated from Tangdhar sector (Kupwara) and since then he was active here. Lamboo was from the family of the Jaish chief (Maulana) Masood Azhar. 

Terrorist Usman was an associate of Lamboo and was neutralised on August 13th. Usman was plotting an attack on the forces on the national highway of Kulgam ahead of Independence Day.  Usman was intercepted and his terror efforts were nipped in the bud by the joint security forces.

(Image: AP-Representative)