Srinagar: Police on Wednesday claimed to have killed a top commander of Jaish-e-Muhammad (JeM) in an encounter in Tral town of south Kashmir’s Pulwama district.
Acting on a specific input about the presence of militants, police, army and paramilitary CRPF personnel laid a siege around Tilwani Mohalla Waggad area of Tral on Wednesday and launched a cordon and search operation, a police spokesperson said.
During the search operation, he said, as the presence of militants got ascertained, they were given repeated opportunities to surrender.
“Instead they fired indiscriminately upon the joint search party which was retaliated leading to an encounter. In the ensuing encounter one terrorist was killed and his body was retrieved from the site of encounter,” the police spokesperson said.
He identified the slain militant as Shamus-ud-Din Sofi alias Sham Sofi, a top commander of JeM.
As per police records, the spokesperson said, the killed militant was categorized and active since June-2019 figuring among the list of most wanted militants operating in the valley.
“He was also part of groups involved in several terror crime cases including attacks on security establishments and civilian atrocities to which several terror crime cases stands already registered against him,” he said.
Giving more details, the police spokesperson said that Sham Sofi was first arrested in 2004 and detained under the Public Safety Act (PSA). He further said that the killed militant was also involved in providing logistic support, shelter to the active militants operating in Tral area before joining “terror folds”.
“Moreover, he was also involved in motivating local youth to join terror folds, reviving the terror folds in Tral area and conspiring to destabilize the system by means of various terror acts. Besides, he was also involved in threatening the law abiding citizens and policemen also,” he said.
The police spokesperson also claimed to have recovered incriminating materials including arms and ammunition from the site of the encounter.
“All the recovered materials have been taken into case records for further investigation. Police has registered a case under relevant sections of law and further investigation is in progress,” he said.
The police spokesperson quoted IGP Kashmir, Vijay Kumar congratulating the joint forces for the big success that led to the elimination of “most wanted “terrorist involved in several terror crime cases”.
Pertinently, Sofi’s killing comes a day after police claimed to have killed five Lashkar-e-Taiba militants, including the one involved in the killing of a non-local street vendor, in two separate gunfights in Shopian district on Tuesday.
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