LeT militant killed in Sopore encounter

A Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) militant was killed in an encounter with security forces in Sopore area of north Kashmir’s Baramulla district on Wednesday.

The encounter erupted after a joint team of army, police and paramilitary CRPF men launched a cordon-and-search-operation (CASO) in Gund Brath village of Sopore, 52 kms from here.

“As the searches were going on, the hiding militants opened fire on security forces, which was retaliated leading to an encounter. In the ensuing encounter, one militant was killed,” a police spokesperson said and identified the slain as Adnan Channa, a native of Baramulla affiliated with the LeT.

SSP Sopore Javeed Iqbal, while confirming the killing of the ultra, said that one weapon was recovered from the encounter site. Earlier, in wake of the gunfight, authorities suspended mobile Internet services and closed educational institutions in Sopore.

Since the beginning of this year, security forces have killed more than 125 militants, including top commanders of Hizb-ul-Mujahideen, LeT, Jaish-e-Mohammad and Ansar Ghazwat-ul-Hind outfits in “well-coordinated operations” in Kashmir.

Last year, 272 militants were killed by security forces in the state, while the number was 217 in 2017.

“Due to human intelligence supported by technical intelligence, security agencies are getting pin-point locations of the militants which makes the operations successful. In the coming months, the anti-militancy operations will step up further,” a senior police officer told DH.