Jaish-e-Mohammad commander killed in Kashmir’s Sopore

A top commander of Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) militant outfit was killed in an encounter with security forces in the Sopore area of north Kashmir’s Baramulla district on Wednesday.

“JeM commander Sajad Nawab Dar got neutralized in ongoing encounter at Sopore. Further details to follow,” a tweet by Kashmir Zone police read.

The gunfight broke out in Gulabad-Arampora area of Sopore, 52 kms from here, during wee hours of Tuesday after Army’s 22-Rashtriya Rifles and J&K police launched a cordon-and-search-operation (CASO) following ‘specific inputs’ about the presence of militants in the area.

As the security forces intensified the searches, the hiding militants opened fire, which was retaliated leading to a gunfight.

A police spokesperson had in the morning said that two to four militants were reported to be present in the cordoned area.

Amid cornavirus pandemic, the militancy incidents in Kashmir have seen a rise with six security personnel, ten militants and three civilians killed since last one week.

On Tuesday, a CRPF jawan was killed in a militant attack in south Kashmir’s Anantnag district. On Sunday, five army personnel, including a junior commissioned officer from Special Forces squad were killed in a “hand to hand and close quarter battle” with infiltrating militants in snow bound woods of Keran sector along the Line of Control in north Kashmir’s Kupwara district.

Five militants were also killed in the gun battle that raged in the woods of Kupwara on Wednesday and culminated on Sunday morning. Prior to that four militants affiliated with Hizb-ul-Mujahideen outfit were killed in an encounter with security forces in south Kashmir’s Kulgam district on April 4.