Hizul Mujahideen new Jammu Kashmir chief killed in Srinagar shootout

[ad_1]

(This story originally appeared in on Nov 02, 2020)

SRINAGAR: Security forces in J&K claimed “a huge success” on Sunday, shooting dead the proscribed Hizbul Mujahideen‘s operational commander in the Valley, Saifullah Mir alias Dr Saif, in a gunfight on the outskirts of Srinagar within six months of him succeeding the slain maths teacher-turned-terrorist Riyaz Naikoo.

DGP Dilbag Singh said Saifullah, classified as an “A-category” terrorist, had masterminded the killing of three BJP workers, including a district general secretary of the party’s youth wing, in south Kashmir’s Kulgam on Friday.

A joint team of the police, CRPF and the Army had cordoned off the Rangreth neighbourhood, close to the J&K Light Infantry headquarters, after receiving intelligence inputs about Saifullah being holed up there with an aide. The Pulwama-born Hizb commander fired several rounds at the security forces before being eliminated, IGP (Kashmir range) Vijay Kumar said.

gra

“A suspected terrorist accompanying him has been arrested and is being questioned,” Kumar told reporters at the encounter site. “Eliminating Saifullah Mir is really a big achievement for us. He was familiar with Naikoo’s network and had quickly resumed all activities of Hizbul Mujahideen after taking over, including extorting money from orchard owners.”

The police had been tracking Saifullah for two days before the shootout at Rangreth. “I would like to congratulate Anantnag police for tracing his movements and sharing the inputs with Srinagar police, leading to the successful operation,” DGP Singh said.

Saifullah, whom fellow terrorists would address as “Dr Saif” because he had trained as a biomedical technician and was known to personally treat his injured colleagues, joined Hizbul Mujahideen in 2014 and went on to become one of the trusted lieutenants of Burhan Wani, the then commander. Since taking the reins of the outfit in J&K following his predecessor Naikoo’s death in an encounter at Beighpora in Pulwama on May 6 this year, Saifullah had led a series of attacks on installations, security personnel and political functionaries, the police said.

A resident of Malengpora village in Pulwama, Saifullah used to be an employee of the National Institute of Electronics and Information Technology before taking up arms. He had been mostly active in the south Kashmir districts of Pulwama, Kulgam and Shopian.

DGP Singh said more than 200 terrorists had been killed in J&K this year, including 190 in the Valley and over a dozen in Jammu division.



[ad_2]

Source link

Be the first to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.


*