T top commander of The Resistance Front (TRF), believed to be an off-shoot of Lashkar-e-Taiba, and his associate were killed in an encounter with security forces in Kulgam district of Jammu and Kashmir on Tuesday.
Inspector General of Police (IGP) Kashmir, V K Birdhi told reporters that security forces got inputs about the movement of terrorists in Redwani village following which a cordon and search operation was launched in the village last night.
As the search operation was going on, the terrorists hiding in the village fired on the troops. The fire was returned by the troops and the intermittent exchange of gunfire between the two sides continued till midnight.
“The operation was suspended in the night and resumed in the early hours today. In the ensuing firefight, two terrorists were killed. Their bodies were retrieved,” the IGP said.
He identified one of the slain terrorists as Basit Dar R/o Kulgam, an “A” category terrorist who was tom commander of TRF.
Describing Dar’s killing as a significant achievement, the IGP said he was involved in 18 cases including in Srinagar city.
“He was involved in the killing of police personnel and innocent civilians. He was involved in planning and carrying out attacks including on minority community members,” the IGP said.
In 2022, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) had announced a bounty of Rs 10 lakh on Dar’s head.
The killing of top TRF commander comes at a time when Kashmir is in the middle of its ongoing Lok Sabha election. The first Lok Sabha seat in Kashmir going to polls is Srinagar.
Srinagar parliamentary constituency will go to polls on May 13, while Baramulla north Kashmir and Anantnag-Rajouri parliamentary constituency will go to polls on May 20 and 25 respectively.