Suhail Khan
Srinagar, August 22: One more top Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) militant commander was killed in a gunfight at Saloosa area of Kreeri of North Kashmir’s Baramulla district on Saturday.
An officer told Kashmir Despatch that with the killing of one more militant commander in a gunfight the killing toll of commanders goes to 4 in just five days.
He said on Saturday following inputs about the presence of suspicious movement a joint team of Army’s 52 RR, SOG and CRPF launched a cordon and search operation in Saloosa area of Kreeri.
As the joint team of forces approached the suspected spot, the hiding militants fired upon them thus triggering an encounter.
In the initial stage of a gunfight, a militant was killed, while two others managed to escape from the site he added.
Meanwhile, a police officer told Kashmir Despatch that the top commander of LeT was killed in an encounter at Saloosa. He identified the slain militant as Anees Alias Chota Sultan from Pakistan.
Deputy Inspector General (DIG) north Kashmir range, Suleman Choudhary told reporters at the site of encounter that one AK-47 rifle and five magazines were recovered from the slain militant.
As reported by this newspaper that Director-General of Police Dilbagh Singh has said that the encounters which took place in the last few days were a major success for security forces and will provide a major relief to local people in the valley.
DIG has said that earlier this week in Kreeri Baramulla where 03 militants, 02 Army soldiers, 02 CRPF, and 01 SPO of J&K police were killed in a 32-hour long gunfight.
He has said that in Kreeri gunfight the biggest Let Commander from North Kashmir Sajad Haider, his Pakistani aide Osman and a local Anyatuallah were killed.
“There were two-three groups that were working with LeT which included Naseer, who was killed in Handwara and Sajad Haider, who was killed in Baramulla. Both these militants were working closely in North Kashmir. Nasir, who was trained in Pakistan, was a dangerous militant. He was involved in the killing of many security forces, which included some CRPF personnel”, he added.
DGP has said, “In the last four days three encounters took place across Kashmir. And in those encounters, four militants with A and A+ category were killed. Those four militants were top commanders and were in the list of top 10 or top 20 militants list across Kashmir”.
