SRINAGAR: Two local militants of Lashkar-e-Toiba, who were involved in the killing of BJP leader Wasim Bari, his father and brother in July last year, were killed in an encounter with security forces in north Kashmir’’s Bandipora district on Sunday.
A police official said that on Saturday evening, police, CRPF and army men launched a combing and search operation in Watrina village of Bandipora district after receiving inputs about the presence of militants there. He said that after zeroing-in on the area where militants were hiding, the security men made repeated appeals to militants to lay down their weapons and surrender.
“However, the militants turned down the offer and fired from automatic weapons towards the security men in the early hours on Sunday,” the police official said. He said in the ensuing gunfight, two Lashkar militants were killed. The deceased militants were identified as Azad Ahmad Shah and Abid Rashid Dar alias Haqani, both belonging to the LeT. “Abid was a Pakistani-trained militant, who had crossed over the Wagah border in 2018 and infiltrated back in 2019,” the official said.
According to police, both the militants were involved in the killing of BJP leader Wasim Bari, his father and brother in Bandipora in July 2020. “The two along with foreign militants Usman and Sajad alias Haider were involved in the killing of Bari. Usman and Sajad were killed in an encounter in Baramulla on August 17, 2020,” the police official said.
He said now all the four militants involved in killing of BJP leader and his family members have been eliminated. Both the LeT militants killed on Sunday were involved in planning and executing militant attacks on security establishments.