A wanted commander of the Lashkar-e-Taiba militant group, Usman Lashkari, was killed in a gunfight on Saturday in Jammu and Kashmir’s Srinagar, reported The Hindu.
Two policemen and two Central Reserve Police Force personnel were injured during the operation. They were hospitalised and their condition is reportedly stable.
The violence broke out in the Khanyar area of Srinagar on Saturday morning. A quick response team was acting on a tip-off regarding a militant’s presence in the crowded neighbourhood.
“Security forces acted swiftly on an intelligence input,” Kashmir Inspector General of Police VK Birdi said. “A coordinated cordon-and-search operation was launched around the suspected hideout. Security personnel were fired upon when the house where the militant was hiding was approached.”
At least three nearby houses were damaged after catching fire during the operation.
“A full-scale operation lasted until late in the evening,” Birdi said. “During the intense exchange of fire, the forces successfully eliminated a foreign terrorist, later identified as Usman Lashkari of the LeT [Lashkar-e-Taiba].”
Police said that a large cache of arms and ammunition was recovered from the site of the gun battle.
Lashkari, who had been active in the valley for several years, was involved in the killing of Inspector Masroor Wani, who was shot dead at close range while playing cricket at the city’s Eidgah ground in October 2023, PTI quoted an unidentified police officer as claiming.
This was the first gunfight in Srinagar since September 2022, when two militants were killed in an operation in the capital city's Nowgam area.
In a separate operation on Saturday, two suspected militants were killed in Anantnag district of Kashmir valley, the Army said.
The Army, the Jammu and Kashmir Police and the Central Reserve Police Force launched a joint operation based on intelligence about militants being present near Halkan Gali in the Shangus-Larnoo area.
The Army said that security personnel had observed suspicious movements in the area and challenged the suspected militants, who opened fire at them. The militants were killed in retaliatory firing, the Army’s Chinar Corps said.
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