Fayaz Bukhari
SRINAGAR, Sept 26: Army today killed most wanted militant commander Qayoom Najjar and foiled a major infiltration attempt in Lacchipora area of Uri in North Kashmir’s Baramulla district while they also repulsed a BAT strike on an army post in Keran sector.
Sources said that a group of Jaish-e-Muhammad militants attempted infiltration from Zorawar Post of Lacchipora in Uri sector during the night and alert troops spotted them at around 3 a.m.
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The troops challenged the infiltrating group of militants leading to an encounter in which one militant who was later identified as Qayoom Najjar was killed. The other militants of the group including his long time associate, Imtiaz Kandu fled away taking advantage of terrain and darkness.
One AK-47 rifle, 4 AK magazines, several rounds of AK ammunition, one Chinese pistol, six pistol magazines, one matrix sheet, IED making equipment, one grenade, one GPS, one night vision, dry fruits, Pakistan make medicine, Pakistan and Indian currency, one stick and one rucksack were recovered from the spot.
Abdul Qayoom Najjar alias Jan Sahab alias Abid alias Wazir alias Qyoom Chacha was a resident of Mumkak Sopore area of Baramulla district and was one of the longest surviving Kashmiri militant commanders carrying a reward of Rs 10 lakh on his head.
Najjar, had joined militancy at an age of 16. He was arrested in 1992 and later released. After his release, he recycled into the militancy in 1995. Though for many years, Najar was a militant, but he always aspired to become a top commander After killing and arrest of top Hizbul commanders, Najar was the senior most active commander and thus the de-facto operational chief of Hizb.
Qayoom until 2015 was affiliated with Hizbul Mujahideeen but he broke away from the outfit and formed his own Lashkar-e-Islam which carried out series of attacks on mobile towers and killed several former militants and Hurriyat activists for their alleged links with security forces.
Later in 2015, he crossed over to Pakistan and met Hizbul Mujahideen supreme Syed Salahudin but failed to patch up with his former boss. He, however, later joined JeM and had come to Kashmir to revive the outfit but was killed while sneaking in.
Police said Najjar was active since 1999 and ex-flitrated to Pak in 2015 and was returning to take command of Hizbul Mujahideen. The killed commander was despatched by United Jehad Council commander Syed Salahudin to revive the Hizbul Mujahideen whose commanders of North Kashmir Pervaiz Wani alias Mubashir and of South Kashmir Yasin Yatoo had got killed recently.
Police said his return was also necessitated because of wiping out of Hizb from North Kashmir. “He was involved in dozens of killings of civilians, police and security forces”, police added.
Police said that he was behind the killing of then Hizb Chief Commander Abdul Majid Dar who had entered into dialogue process with Government of India in year 2000. “The killed terrorist was also involved in number of IED blasts carried out by HM in North Kashmir in Sopore, Pattan, Handwara and Baramulla. He briefly fell out with HM/Hurriyat leadership in 2015 when he orchestrated multiple attacks on mobile towers and killing of some civilians affiliated with Hurriyat. He was recalled to base camp in Muzaffarabad, PoK to sort out the differences”, police added.
General Officer Commanding (GOC) 19 Division of Army Major General RP Kalita said army was on high alert after inputs about possible attacks on army posts along the LoC in Uri sector. From last few days we have been receiving lot of inputs about Fidayeen attack on posts near the LoC in Uri sector. We have already foiled a Fidayeen attack on Kalgai army camp in Uri. After the inputs of the attacks, army was put on high alert along the LoC and fence to foil such attacks,” he added.
While giving details about the killing of Qayoom Najjar, the GoC said: “In Uri sector Maidan nallah ahead of Khati Chulan, the alert troops saw suspicious movement near the fence and the terrorists were challenged and one of them was killed and others managed to flee taking advantage of darkness. In the morning, we recovered body of a militant and he was identified by his relatives as Qayoom Najjar.”
Inspector General of Police (IGP) Nitish Kumar said: “He was very hardcore terrorist. He was involved in killings of number of policemen and civilians. He had fled to Pakistan after the killings. His killing is major success and he was involved in the killings in North Kashmir.”
Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Imtiaz Husain said that Najjar was involved in over 50 killings and his killing is a major relief for security agencies. “He was involved in the killing of 50 civilians and security force personnel and was most dreaded terrorists in the history of Kashmir. It is a major success and we are thankful to army for neutralizing him. If he would have managed to infiltrate it would have been big problem for us as he had huge network in Baramulla district. He was sent to take the command of Hizb in Kashmir after killing of top Commanders of the outfit. His killing is relief for us and people”, he said.
Meanwhile, Army today foiled an attack by Pakistani Border Action Team (BAT) near the Line of Control (LoC) in Keran Sector of North Kashmir.
The attackers were forced to retreat to Pakistan occupied Kashmir without causing any damage on the Indian side.
“A BAT action was attempted by seven to eight armed intruders (from PoK side) today at 1.00 pm in the area of Keran Sector of Kupwara. The armed intruders came near own posts,” army sources said.
They said the BAT intruders were supported by nearby Pakistani posts with mortar shelling and small arms firing.
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