LeT commander Sajjad Haidar among three terrorists gunned down in J&K’s Baramulla

SRINAGAR: The security forces on Thursday (August 20, 2020) gunned down three terrorists in a fierce gun battle in Kreeri Jammu and Kashmir’s Baramulla district. 

According to J&K DGP Dilbag Singh, those killed in the Baramulla encounter included North Kashmir's biggest commander of Lashkar-e-Taiba, Sajjad Haidar, his Pakistani accomplice Usman and a local Kashmiri aide Anaitulla.

In three operations over the last four days, 6 terrorists have been killed, out of them, four were part of the list of top ten terrorists active in Kashmir, J&K DGP Dilbag Singh said during a press briefing.

Singh added that “these operations are commendable and will certainly be a relief for people as Sajjad Haidar radicalised many youths.”  The killing of Haidar is significant as he was involved in several terror-related incidents and radicalised many young Kashmiri youths for Jihad.

Earlier, a terrorist was killed in an encounter in Jammu and Kashmir's Kupwara district. The J&K Police on Thursday said that the slain Pakistani terrorist was identified as Danish.

Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Kashmir Vijay Kumar said the killing of the two terrorists was a big achievement for the security forces.

Kumar had on Wednesday said that one of the slain terrorists was LeT commander Naseer-u-din Lone, who was involved in the killing of three CRPF jawans at Sopore on April 18 and another three CRPF jawans at Handwara on May 4 this year.

He said an AK-47 rifle, which was snatched from a CRPF jawan after the attack at Vangam Handwara on May 4, was recovered from Lone. 

This proved his involvement in the killing of the three CRPF jawans, he said. The killing of Lone and Danish is a big achievement for the forces, the IGP Kashmir said.

The Kashmir Zone Police on its official Twitter page uploaded a CCTV grab purportedly showing Lone firing on CRPF jawans at Aahad Baba Chowk in Sopore on April 18. The police wrote "justice done" on August 19 in the tweet.

The encounter at Ganipora Kralgund area of Handwara in north Kashmir's Kupwara district started after security forces cordoned off the area and launched a search operation.

The encounter was the second such operation on Wednesday. Earlier in the day, security forces killed two militants in Shopian district in south Kashmir.