Srinagar: Top militant commander and head of Lashkar-e-Islam Abdula Qayoom Najar was killed in a gunfight near the Line of Control (LoC) in north Kashmir’s Baramulla district on Tuesday, police said.
An official said that Najar, who was believed to be one of the longest surviving militants in Kashmir, was killed in a gunfight near Zorawar post of Lachipora Uri Tuesday.
He said that Najar was trying to infiltrate into this side of the LoC from Pakistan.
Najar, a resident of Sopore area of Baramulla district, carried Rs 10 lakh bounty on his head.
Najar broke away from the Hizb-ul-Mujahideen and formed his own outfit Lashkar-e-Islam which carried out a series of attacks on cellphone towers.
Meanwhile mobile Internet services were suspended in north Kashmir’s Baramulla district, including Sopore town, on Tuesday after the killing of top militant commander Abdul Qayoom Najar.
Officials said that mobile Internet services barred in the district to prevent “anti-social elements” from spreading rumours.
The slain militant commander Abdul Qayoom Najar was returning to Kashmir fom Pakistan to take command of Hizb-ul-Mujahideen following the “wiping up of Hizb” from north Kashmir, said a police spokesman.
Najar, he said, was killed in a gunfight with government forces near Zorawar Post of Lachipora Uri.
He said that Najar had crossed over to Pakistan in 2015 and was returning to take command of Hizbul Mujahideen.
“The killed commander was dispatched by United Jehad Council Commander Syed Salah u din to revive the Hizb ul Mujahideen whose commanders of North Kashmir Pervaiz Wani @ Mubashir of South Kashmir and Yasin Yatoo got killed recently,” said the spokesman.
