Srinagar/May,16 : A top commmander of the Jaish-e-Muhammad was among the three militants slain in a gunfight with the government forces forces in southern Pulwama district, said police on Thursday.
Police in a statement issued on Thursday said “on a credible input , a cordon & search operation was launched Thursday morning by police and government forces in Dalipora area in Pulwama district” , adding that “as the Police & government forces were evacuating civilians from the neighbourhood area around the target house, the hiding militants fired indiscriminately and in the process one Army man Sepoy Sandeep and one civilian Rayees Dar lost their lives ” .
Saying that “after the government forces retaliated, three militants were killed in the ensuing encounter and their bodies were retrieved from the site of encounter”, Police in its statement said ” the slain militants were identified as as Naseer Pandith of Kareemabad Pulwama, Umar Mir of Shopian and from the incriminating material recovered from the site of encounter.One militant has been identified as a Pakistani namely Khalid”.
Police in its statement further said “the slain were affiliated with proscribed outfit JeM. They were wanted by law for their complicity in a series of crimes including attack on security establishments and civilian atrocities.”.
“As per police records, Naseer Pandith was involved in the killing of a policeman Mohammad Yaqoob Shah of Pulwama in 2018 on the eve of Eid. He was also involved in some weapon snatching incidents reported from the area besides several cases were registered against him for his criminal activities including case FIR No 30/15 & 277/14 under NDPS Act and case FIR No 25/16 pertaining to forgery”, said the statement, adding that “similarly, Khalid who was operating as commander of JeM was involved in several attacks on security establishments and civilian atrocities in the area”.
Police in its statement also claimed to have recovered Incriminating materials including arms & ammunition from the encounter site and said that all these materials have been taken in the case records for further investigation and to probe their complicity in other cases.
