Delhi Police arrests JeM militant
Fayaz Bukhari
SRINAGAR, Apr 1 : Four militants of Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) were killed in a gun battle at Lassipora area of South Kashmir’s Pulwama district today.
A joint team of Army’s 44 RR, SOG and CRPF cordoned off Lassipora village last night after specific inputs about presence of a group of militants hiding in the village.
During searches, militants fired upon the search party and the troops retaliated leading to an encounter. Four militants were killed in the gun battle and their bodies were later retrieved.
They have been identified as Zaffar Paul alias Abu Manzil son of Mohammad Ahsan resident of Dangerpora Shopian, Tauseef Ahmad Yattoo alias Azim son of Abdul Aziz resident of Gudbug Pulwama, Aqib Ahmad Kumar son of Bashir Ahmad resident of Hellow Shopian and Mohammad Shafi Bhat son of Ghulam Mohammad resident of Sedow Shopian.
Paul was affiliated with LeT and had joined the group on January 11 this year, Kumar was affiliated with LeT and was active on September last year, Bhat was affiliated with LeT and had joined the militancy on October 23 last year and Yetoo was also affiliated with LeT and was active since July 2016.
Police said that the slain militants were wanted by law for their complicity in a series of attacks including the attack on security establishments and civilian atrocities.
In the initial exchange of fire three soldiers of Army and one policeman were injured. They have been hospitalized and their condition is stated to be stable.
“Tauseef had a long history of crime records and several crime cases were registered against him including FIR No. 281/2016, 509/2016, 19/2018 registered in P/S Pulwama and 33/2018 registered at P/S Litter. He was involved in conspiring and executing many attacks in the area,” police said.
“Zaffar was involved in many crime cases which include FIR No. 290/2017, 307/2018, 13/2019, which were registered against him in police station Shopian. Aqib Ahmad and Mohammad Shafi were also involved in crimes in the area”, police said.
“Incriminating materials including arms and ammunition was recovered from the site of encounter. All these materials have been taken in the case records for further investigation and to probe their complicity in other terror cases, police said.
Meanwhile, after conducting all medico formalities, the bodies of the slain militants were handed over to respective families for last rites. Thousands of people attended the funeral of the slain at their respective native villages, who were later buried.
And in the meantime, Delhi Police special cell arrested a Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) militant carrying a reward of Rs two lakh.
An official said that Fayaz Ahmad Lone, a resident of Kupwara, had been evading arrest since 2015. He was wanted in a case in which a non-bailable warrant was issued against him by the Delhi High Court. Lone was carrying a reward of Rs two lakh, they said.
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