Army on Tuesday killed Kashmir’s longest surviving militant Qayoom Najar while he was trying to infiltrate into the Valley from Lachipora area of Uri sector in Baramulla district along Line of Control (LoC).
43-year-old Najar, head of Lashkar-e-Islam (LeI), a breakaway group of Hizb-ul-Mujahideen, was one of the longest surviving Kashmiri militant commanders and caried Rs 10 lakh bounty on his head.
Police said Najar was killed in a gunfight near Zorawar post of Lachipora, Uri on Tuesday morning when was trying to infiltrate into this side of the LoC from Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (PoK).
Najar hogged the headlines in May-June 2015, when his lesser known LeI outfit attacked cellular operators in north Kashmir areas asking them to wind up their businesses. He also killed several former militants and Hurriyat activists for their alleged links with government forces. He was disowned by PoK based Hizbul commanders, after which he formed his own LeI. Later that year reports emerged that he had crossed over to Pakistan.
A resident of apple rich Sopore town, Najar joined militancy barely at an age of 16 and was arrested in 1992 and later released, according to police records. After his release, he recycled into the militancy in 1995. He had escaped from several security forces’ cordons and carried out major attacks in north Kashmir.
A police spokesperson confirmed that Najar was returning to Kashmir from Pakistan to take command of Hizbul following the "wiping up of the outfit" from north Kashmir. "The killed commander was despatched by United Jehad Council Commander Syed Salah u din to revive the Hizb-ul-Mujahideen whose commanders of north Kashmir Pervaiz Wani @ Mubashir of south Kashmir and Yasin Yatoo got killed recently," he said.
Published 26 September 2017, 14:04 IST