The security forces on Wednesday killed a divisional commander of frontline indigenous Kashmiri militant outfit Hizb-ul-Mujahideen with two others in a gunfight in southern Pulwama district.
In a separate clash at Jora Khurd in Gandoh area of eastern Doda district, two top ranking militants of Lashkar-e-Tayyaba were killed, police here said. The slain men were indentified by the police as Abdullah Ans and Abu Ma’az, both Pakistani nationals, who were reportedly working as divisional and district commander of the Lashkar, respectively. “We’ve inflicted a severe blow to Hizb-ul-Mujahideen as three of its top members including divisional commander Lateef Tedwa alias Abu Bakar and a battalion commander Rafiq Ahmed Butt and their bodyguard Munir Ahmed were killed,” a defence spokesperson Lt. Col. J.S. Brar said here. He added that the militants were hiding in a private house in Drubgam-Bamun hamlet of Pulwama when encircled by the security forces leading to a fierce gunfight. The house owned by one Rashid Ahmed Khan was razed to group during the gunfight, reports said.
Police, however, identified the third slain man as Farooq Ahmed Khanday who was not a militant. “We’ re ascertaining as to how he was caught in the gunbattle, whether he was accompanying the militants or was caught in crossfire,” a police official said over the phone from Pulwama. Police added that the commander was among the most wanted militants.