Top LeT militant Waseem Shah killed in encounter in Kashmir: police

Mangalore Today News Network

Srinagar, Oct 14 2017, DH News: Two Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) militants, including a self-styled district commander, were killed in an encounter with security forces in south Kashmir’s Pulwama district on Saturday morning.

Sources said security forces launched a search operation in Litter village Pulwama, 28 kms from here during wee hours on Saturday following information about presence of a group of militants in the area.

“As the security forces intensified the search operation, the militants hiding in the area opened fire triggering off an encounter in which two local militants were killed,” they said.
Jammu and Kashmir Police chief Shesh Pal Vaid identified the slain militants as LeT commander Waseem Ahmad Shah and Nisar Ahmad Mir, both locals. “Both LeT terrorists killed in a clean operation. Well done JKP boys and other SF (security forces),” he tweeted.

Shah, also known by his alias Usama, according to police records, was a category A++ militant, while Mir was a category-C militant. Security forces have recovered an AK-47 and an AK-56 along with 6 AK magazines. A resident of Heff, Shopian, Shah, who had joined militancy in March this year, was on the army’s most wanted list of 12 militants.

The latest encounter comes just five days after a top commander of Jaish-e-Mohammed, Umer Khalid, a Pakistani national was killed in an encounter with security forces in north Kashmir’s Sopore area.

More than 150 militants, including top commanders Sabzar Bhat, Junaid Matoo, Ayoub Lelhari, Bashir Lashkari, Abu Dujana and Mehmood Gaznavi, have been killed by the security forces this year, which is highest in the last eight years. The security forces are going after militants as part of operation "hunt down" and on the basis of a “hit list” of militants.

With LeT and Hizb-ul-Mujahideen outfits receiving major setbacks at the hands of security forces, Maulana Masood Azhar’s led terror outfit Jaish has taken a frontal role in carrying out fidayeen (suicide) attacks on security forces.