LeT commander among two militants killed in Kashmir’s Sopore

A commander of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) was among two militants killed in an overnight encounter with security forces in the Sopore area of north Kashmir’s Baramulla district on Friday.

The night-long gunfight at Warpora, Sopore, 56 km from here, erupted after a joint team of Army, J&K police and Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) launched a cordon-and-search-operation following inputs about the presence of militants in the area, sources said.

Police said the search operation turned into an encounter after the militants opened fire on security forces, who retaliated. In the ensuing firefight, two militants affiliated with the LeT were killed.

Kashmir police chief Vijay Kumar, while confirming the killing of two LeT militants in the gunfight identified one of them as Fayaz War, a commander of the LeT. “He (War) was involved in several attacks and killings of civilians and security personnel. He was the last perpetrator of violence in north Kashmir,” he said.

The identity of the other slain militant was not known immediately. The police said it recovered incriminating materials including arms and ammunition from the encounter site.

Two dozen militants, mostly belonging to the LeT, have been killed by the security forces in Kashmir in the first 23 days of this month. Due to the Covid-19 lockdown, only 16 ultras were killed in Kashmir in May and June.

82 militants and 18 security forces and J&K police personnel have been killed in Kashmir since the beginning of this year. Out of 82 militants killed this year, 43 belonged to the LeT followed by Hizbul Mujahideen, Al-Badr, Jash-e-Mohammad and Ansar Ghazwat-ul-Hind.

Over 200 militants were killed in Kashmir in 2020 while the number was 157 in 2019. In 2018, the number of militants killed stood at 257 -- which was the highest in a decade.