Jaish Commander Sajad Afghani, Associate Killed
Srinagar: Top Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) commander Vilayat Ahmad Lone alias Sajad Afghani was killed by government forces in a 72-hour long operation in south Kashmir’s Shopian district that ended on Monday.
Afghani, according to a police spokesperson was killed on Monday in his native village Rawalpora in Shopian which has remained under siege since the outbreak of encounter on Saturday last. A resident of Rawalpora village in Shopian, Afghani had joined militant ranks in September 2018, he said.
On Sunday, Afghani’s associate Jahangir Ahmad Wani of Lashkar-e-Toiba was killed in the gun-battle.
The top Jaish commander, the police spokesperson said was killed after the encounter resumed in the wee hours of Monday after remaining suspended for the night. Afghani’s body, he said was retrieved from the encounter site after the search operation was resumed.
He further said that IGP Kashmir Vijay Kumar and GoC Victor Force conducted aerial monitoring of the operation and law and order situations at the encounter site.
Revealing the details of Afghani’s role as a militant, the police spokesperson said that he was part of a group involved in executing a series of attacks on policemen, state forces and civilians.
“He was also involved in attacks on security establishments and brutal killings of civilians branding them as police and state forces informers,” he said.
Giving additional details, the police spokesperson said that Afghani was wanted by law for his complicity in several militancy cases including threatening people to boycott Panchayat polls and setting ablaze a Panchayat Ghar at Kanji-ullar.
Besides it, the police spokesperson said that the killed Jaish commander was also involved in barging into the houses of police personnel, abducting and killing of police personnel Nisar Ahmad, Firdous Ahmad and SPO Kulwant Singh.
He was also involved in the attack on army’s 34 RR camp in Matribugh and the abduction and killing of civilian Suhail Ahmad Ganai, the police spokesperson said, adding that he also had a hand in the killing of SPO Khusboo Jan and abduction and killing of civilian Tanveer Ahmad Dar.
The police spokesperson said that incriminating materials including arms & ammunition were recovered from the site of encounter and the same has been taken into case records for further investigation and to probe his complicity in other crimes.
“The last rites of the killed militants shall be performed after conducting their medico-legal formalities and their nearest family members shall be allowed to participate in their last rites,” he said.
“In this connection a case under relevant sections of law has been registered and investigation has been initiated. People are requested to cooperate with police till the area is completely sanitized and cleared of all the explosive materials, if any,” he added.
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