Lashkar chief operational commander killed in Sopore encounter

"The top LeT commander Abdullah Uni is dead," Superintendent of Police, Sopore, Imtiyaz Hussain told PTI.

Uni, a Pakistani resident, was active in Kashmir for nearly a decade and figured on top of the most wanted list of militants in the state as he was involved in several lethal attacks on security forces, political workers and civilians in north Kashmir.

He was also one of the accused in the murder of Jamiat-e-Ahlihadees chief Moulana Shoukat Ahmad Shah, who was killed in a bomb blast outside a Srinagar mosque in April this year.

Acting on a tip-off about the presence of some Lashkar militants in Baghat-e-Batpora locality in Sopore, about 55 km from here, a joint team of police and Rashtriya Rifles cordoned off the area around noon, official sources said.

When the security personnel were busy in house-to-house searches to flush out the militants, the latter opened fire on the search party triggering a gunbattle, they said.

The gunfight resulted in the killing of the militant who was later identified as Uni. The top Lashkar commander, who was carrying a huge reward on his head, had managed to give slip to security forces at least eight times in the last two years after being cornered during search operations.

The Lashkar commander was based in Sopore and all the operations, in which he had managed to escape, were launched in the apple town.

He had earlier managed to escape in a full fledged encounter with security forces at Batapora, where he was finally killed, in 2009.

Uni had given slip to the security forces in three other brief encounters at Malpora, Warpora and Hygam areas of Sopore town during 2009, and in Chinkipora area last year despite the operation lasting over five days.

Uni was involved in the attack on security personnel in 2009 resulting in the death of four jawans, including two policemen. In the same year, he ordered two attacks on CRPF personnel in Sopore area that claimed the lives of seven jawans.

In January 2010, he orchestrated the suicide attack on a hotel in Lal Chowk area here in which two militants and a policeman were killed.

In another daring attack, the Lashkar commander launched attacks on heavily guarded residences of political leaders in Sopore town in August last year. Four policemen -- posted on guard duty -- were killed in the attack.

Uni was also involved in killing of two teenaged sisters and several policemen in Sopore town since last year.

According to intelligence officials, the handlers of the Lashkar commander had also been entrusted the job of coordination with other militant outfits like Hizbul Mujahideen and Jaish-e-Mohammad for jointly carrying out strikes on security forces.