Most-wanted LeT commander Dujana killed in Kashmir

Mangalore Today News Network

Kashmir, Aug 01, 2017 : At least two militants, including the most-wanted Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) commander Abu Dujana, were killed in an encounter with security forces in south Kashmir’s Pulwama district on Tuesday.

 

Sources said security forces cordoned off Hakripora village in Pulwama, 28 km from here during the intervening night of Monday and Tuesday after specific inputs about the presence of three LeT militants, including Dujana in the area.

"As the cordon was being laid and forces tried to approach towards the suspected spot, the militants hiding inside opened fire, triggering a fierce encounter in which two militants were killed,” they said and added the slain ultras could be Abu Dujana and Arif Lalhari.

However, police didn’t confirm the identity of the slain militants. "The operation is still in progress and we are yet to retrieve the bodies from the encounter site. There was information about the presence of Dujana and Lalhari in the area, but till bodies are recovered we can’t say who has been killed," SP Pulwama Aslam Choudhary told DH.

27-year-old Dujana carried a reward of Rs 15 lakh on his head and figures among the top militants of the valley, categorised A++ by the army. Dujana had taken over operational command of LeT in late 2015 following the killing of Abu Qasim in Kulgam area of south Kashmir.

He is said to be from the Gilgit-Baltistan region in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir and had infiltrated into Kashmir in 2010. Dujana had been named by police as the mastermind in several militant attacks across the state and in the last two years, he escaped from the cordon and search operations at least half a dozen times.

He was involved in the attack at a CRPF party in Pampore in last year June in which eight security personnel were killed. Dujana was also linked to the killing of two police men in Anantnag in June this year, the ambush of a BSF convoy in Udhampur in August 2015 and several other acts of terror.

The LeT commander a “skilful gadget freak”, was the brain behind introducing the iPhone as “a security cover for the LeT’s inner circle” in the Valley. Dujana’s death is the second biggest success story for security forces this year after the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Sabzar Bhat in April.

A senior police officer said Dujana had recently married a girl from Pulwama and it was his attempt to meet his wife that alerted security agencies about his presence in the area.

Meanwhile, reports said, soon after the news of the encounter spread in the area, the people mostly youth took to streets and started pelting stones on security forces. The police and paramilitary CRPF used tear smoke shells and fired some shots to disperse the protesters.

In the incident, a youth namely Jehangir Ahmad of Kakpora received bullet injuries and at least six others sustained pellet wounds. All the injured have been hospitalized. when reports last came in, the stone pelting clashes were going on in parts of the southern district. Authorities have also blocked internet services in Pulwama district.


courtesy:DHNS