Top militant killed in Valley

Security forces killed a senior commander of the Al-Badr militant outfit in an encounter in central Kashmir’s Budgam district in the early hours of Friday.

Sources said following specific information about the presence of Muzafar Naiku alias Muza Molvi, one of the most wanted militants in Jammu and Kashmir, in Gulzarpora village of Budgam, the army’s Rashtriya Rifles and special operations group of the Jammu and Kashmir Police surrounded the area during the night.

As the search party zeroed in on the target, the holed up militant opened fire, resulting in an encounter in which Naiku was killed, while a policeman sustained injuries, the sources said.

Naiku, according to the police, was one of the longest-surviving militant in Kashmir and was earlier a commander of the Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT).

However, in May 2015, the outfit expelled Naiku for “using the name of LeT and collecting money from people”.

“This person (Muzafar Molvi) is not affiliated with our outfit and is an agent of the
Indian security agencies,” LeT spokesperson Abdullah Ghaznavi had then been quoted as saying by a local news agency.

Later, according to sources, Naiku joined the Al-Badr outfit and shifted his base from north to central Kashmir. A senior police officer termed the killing of Naiku a big achievement for the security forces, claiming it has broken the backbone of the Al-Badr outfit, which was trying to re-establish its base in Kashmir.