Dreaded LeT commander killed in night-long operation in Kashmir [details]

Intensifying its operations to target dreaded terrorists, the Jammu and Kashmir Police on Friday morning eliminated two terrorists including a self-styled commander of the Pakistani-sponsored terror outfit Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT).

LeT 'commander' Fayaz Ahmad War alias Rukana, involved in several killings and violence, was killed in a night-long operation in the Warpora area of Sopore in North Kashmir.

The identity of the second terrorist has been revealed as Shaheen Ahmad Mir alias Shaheen Molvi of Cherpora Budgam.

Fayaz-longest surviving terrorist of Sopore area

According to police, Fayaz Ahmad War was one of the longest surviving terrorists in North Kashmir. Police had announced a bounty of Rs 10 lakh on him.

Fayaz Ahmad War was a top LeT 'commander' and his elimination is considered a big success for the security forces and severe jolt to the LeT outfit. He was involved in several terror incidents, civilian killings, attacks on police/security forces establishments, an official spokesman said.

War killed in a night-long operation

War along with another terrorist was trapped by security forces in the Warpora area on Thursday evening. A joint team of Police, Army's 22RR, and CRPF had launched a cordon and search operation in Warpora after a specific input about the presence of two terrorists in the village.

The police spokesperson said that during the operation, the search party, while heading towards the spot, came under a heavy firing from a residential house where the terrorists were hiding. The security forces retaliated the fire, triggering a gunfight. The trapped terrorists were offered to surrender but they refused to lay down their arms, said the police.

The gun-battle was started at 5 pm on Thursday and culminated on Friday morning with the killing of both the trapped terrorists.

Only 200 terrorists active in J&K: DGP

Jammu and Kashmir's Director General of Police (DGP) Dilbag Singh said that the number of active terrorists in the Union Territory has come down to 200 from 300 a couple of years ago and efforts are on to bring down the number further. "Our efforts are on to bring the number further down," he said.

Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Kashmir Vijay Kumar on July 16 had stated that 78 terrorists, more than half of them belong to Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) were killed this year so far in the Valley.

After July 16, four more terrorists were killed in two different encounters on July 19 and July 24 respectively so the number of total terrorists killed this year reached 84 as of today, July 23.

Most of the terrorists were affiliated with the banned terror outfit LeT, (43 out of 84) followed by HM, Al-Badr, JeM, and AuGH.