Riyaz Naikoo, Hizb-ul-Mujahideen terror head, killed; forces avenge martyrdom of 5 bravehearts

A calculative and cold-blooded terrorist, Riyaz Naikoo had a lucky run for eight years before he was killed by security forces on Wednesday in a gun battle lasting several hours. Life came to a full circle for the bespectacled Pakistan-supported Hizb-ul-Mujahideen's top terror commander Naikoo as he was gunned down in the same village from where he had scripted his journey into terrorism in 2012.

One of the most-wanted terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir, Riyaz Naikoo along with his associate was killed in an encounter with a joint team of Indian Army, Central Reserve Police Force and Jammu and Kashmir Police in Beighpora village of Awantipora in Pulwama district of Jammu and Kashmir.

With this, the security forces also avenged the deaths of five security personnel killed in the Handwara area of Kupwara district on May 3. Four Indian Army personnel including the Commanding Officer of Indian Army's 21 Rashtriya Rifles Colonel Ashutosh Sharma, Major Anuj Sood, Naik Rajesh Kumar, Lance Naik Dinesh Singh, and Jammu and Kashmir Police officer Sageer Ahmed Qazi were martyred in an encounter in Chanjmulla area of Handwara. Two terrorists were also killed in the encounter, Army sources had said.

It is learnt that an Indian Army unit had entered the house of a civilian to prevent a hostage situation when the terrorists opened fire on them. The troops managed to safely evacuate the civilians from the house. The encounter had started on May 2 after the security forces succeeded in trapping the terrorists inside the house located in the forest of Handwara.

Naikoo's elimination is a major blow to the local terror groups active in the area. He became a terrorist in May 2012 and was a close associate of former Hizb-ul-Mujahideen chief Burhan Wani. He carried a reward of Rs 12 lakh on his head. 

The dreaded terrorist was involved in more than a dozen killings since he picked up the gun. On March 8, 2014, Naikoo was involved in the killing of Haji Ghulam Mohammad Dar, the father of a sarpanch at Dogripora in the Valley. He was involved in the firing on a police bus near Bhatpora Tokena. 

Naikoo was also a part in the killing of Gh Mohi-Ud-din Dar, Javaid Akbar Khanday a resident of Khandaypora, a Police Head Constable Ashiq Hussain Mir at Padgampoara crossing, six migrant labourers in Kulgam, and truck drivers and fruit traders after August 5, 2019. He was also involved in the kidnapping of constable Naseer Ahmad, looting of nine weapons from the residence of former MLA Wachi and release of an audiotape threatening attacks on the jail staff after preferential treatment being provided to terrorists and the separatists lodged in various jails was discontinued.

Naikoo was also responsible for a large number of innocent youths getting into terrorist ranks and indulging in serious violence against the security forces and the local population. He resorted to brutal killings of civilians by branding them as informers of the police and security forces. Apart from the above, he was involved in many other cases of a heinous crime for which several number of FIRs were registered against him.

He had been continuously making audio and video clips and putting up on social media to motivate youth to join terrorism and went on recruiting new boys. He was a mastermind behind the revival of the outfit in Jammu and Kashmir. He also released videos and audios on a number of occasions carrying pro-Pakistan and separatist propaganda.

He also looted orchard owners and farmers to collect funds for his outfit and collected booty from illicit cultivation of opium in South Kashmir. Naikoo's outfit was also involved in narco trade case in Jammu where a huge sum of sale proceeds was transferred to one of his contacts.

According to officials, the operation to eliminate Naikoo was carried out with pinpoint precision without any collateral damage. Authorities had suspended mobile Internet across the Kashmir Valley and imposed curfew in most major towns of the valley to ensure that no ugly fallout of Naikoo`s death affects the law and order.

In a big move to stop glorification and big funeral procession of terrorists, the bodies of Naikoo and his associate will not be given to their relatives. The administration of the union territory has decided to bury them and not reveal the location. This decision also came at the backdrop of stone-pelting by youths on a vehicle of security forces in Pulwama at the encounter site of Naikoo.

Security forces hold Naikoo responsible for holding Hizbul together after its possible disintegration when Zakir Musa broke away from the Hizbul ranks to form his own splinter group. Musa split from the Hizbul in 2017 and formed his own group called Ansar Ghazwatul Hind that claimed to be the Indian affiliate of the Al-Qaeda. Musa was killed in Dadsara area in Tral tehsil in an encounter with the security forces on May 23, 2019.