In a significant development, security forces engaged in a gunfight in the Redwani Payeen area of South Kashmir’s Kulgam district have successfully neutralized 3 terrorists, including one of the National Investigation Agency’s (NIA) most wanted militants and Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) commander. The encounter ensued after security forces launched a search operation late on Monday night.
Identified as Basit Ahmed Dar, the slain militant, a resident of Redwani Payeen, was not only a prominent LeT commander but also associated with the offshoot group, The Resistant Front (TRF). Basit Ahmed Dar was allegedly involved in numerous civilian and security personnel killings. Alongside Basit Ahmed Dar, two other LeT terrorists, Momin Gulzar and Fahim Ahmed Baba, were also eliminated during the operation.
Inspector General of Police Kashmir V K Birdi hailed the operation as a significant achievement, noting that the deceased militants were responsible for a total of 18 killings, which included attacks on security personnel, civilians, and minority groups.
The intensified search operations in the region come in the wake of heightened tensions following an attack on an Indian Air Force convoy in Poonch district on May 4, resulting in the death of an officer and injuries to four others. The authorities released CCTV footage and photographs of three terrorists suspected to be involved in the attack, identifying them as Illiyas, a former Pakistan Army commando, a Pakistani terrorist known as Hadoon (or Hadun), and Abu Hamza, the LeT commander.
