Lashkar-e-Taiba militant involved in army officers killing dead in south Kashmir gunfight

File photo for representation. Pic/PTI

A Lashkar-e-Taiba militant was killed on Friday in a gunfight with security forces in Jammu and Kashmir's southern Shopian district, police said.

According to the police, the slain militant was involved in the abduction and killing of Army officer Lieutenant Ummer Fayaz in 2017.

A police spokesperson said that acting on "specific information" about presence of a militant in Chotigam village of the south Kashmir district, a cordon and search operation was launched in the early hours.

As the security forces approached the suspected spot, the Lashkar-e-Taiba militant fired upon the security forces, which was retaliated, leading to a gunfight, the spokesman said. In the ensuing gunfight, a militant was killed and his body was retrieved from the site of the encounter, he said.

The spokesman identified the slain Lashkar-e-Taiba militant as Bilal Ahmed Bhat, a resident of Chek Cholan.

Bhat was involved in several cases, including the killing of local Army personnel Ummer Fayaz, a resident of Sudsan Kulgam.

Lt Fayaz, then a 22-year-old Army officer of 2 Rajputana Rifles was on leave and was attending the marriage ceremony of a cousin, when he was abducted and later shot dead by militants in Shopian in May 2017.

Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), Shopian, Tanushree, told newswire PTI that the Lashkar-e-Taiba militant's name figured in the FIR registered in connection with the killing of Lt Fayaz. "He (Bhat) was an OGW (overground worker) then and his name figured in the FIR," Tanushree said, adding, Bhat later became a militant.

The police said Bhat also had hurled a grenade upon non-local labourers in Hermain, resulting in the death of two labourers.

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Bhat was also involved in the killing of Kashmiri Pandit Sunil Kumar Bhat, and injuring another Kashmiri Pandit Pretimber Nath, both residents of Chotigam Shopian, the spokesman said. He was also involved in the attack on local Bal Krishan alias Sonu, a resident of Chotigam, PTi report said.

"Bhat used to instigate local youth to join terrorist ranks and inducted 12 local youth into the ranks of terrorists. Besides other terror crimes, he was also involved in the killing of an arrested terrorist who was leading the search party during a cordon and search operation at Nowgam in 2022," the report said quoting the police spokesman. (With inputs from PTI)