Jaish-e-Mohammed commander Sham Sofi was killed in a gunfight with the security forces on Wednesday in Kashmir’s Pulwama district, the police said.
The gunfight broke out on Wednesday afternoon after security forces cordoned the Tilwani Mohalla in Tral following a tip-off about militants’ presence in the area, Greater Kashmir reported police as saying. The militants opened fire at the security forces, who then retaliated, killing the JeM commander.
On Tuesday, the police said five militants were shot dead in two separate gunfights with security forces in Jammu and Kashmir’s Shopian district.
In the first case, three militants of The Resistance Front, an offshoot of the Lashkar-e-Taiba, were killed in Tulran village.
In the second case, a gun battle had broken out in the Feeripora area of Shopian. The Army said that it had repeatedly asked the militants to surrender. However, they fired indiscriminately at the security forces. Two militants died in the retaliatory firing.
On Monday, five soldiers of the Indian Army were killed in a gunfight with suspected militants during an operation in Jammu and Kashmir’s Poonch district.
NIA arrests four suspects
Meanwhile, the National Investigation Agency on Wednesday arrested four persons from Srinagar for alleged links to The Resistance Front, The Hindu reported. The investigation agency had conducted searches across 16 locations in Srinagar, Pulwama, and Shopian districts.
The investigation agency claimed that it had received information regarding “hatching of conspiracy both physically and in cyberspace for undertaking violent terrorist acts in J&K and other major cities, including New Delhi, by cadres of proscribed terrorist organisations”.
“Preliminary investigation revealed that the accused persons are terror associates or Overground Workers of various proscribed terrorist organisations and have been providing logistical and material support to terrorists and facilitating them in their nefarious designs,” the NIA stated.
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