Three Lashkar-e-Toiba militants killed in Shopian

Srinagar, Dec 20: Police on Tuesday said that three militants including a wanted Lashkar-e-Toiba militant were killed in an encounter at Munjh Marg area of Southern district of Shopian. Police said that one of the slain was a new recruit from old town Baramulla.
Kashmir Zone Police in a tweet while quoting ADGP Kashmir said that among three killed militants two are local including Lateef Lone from Shopian and Umer Nazir from Anantnag.
He said that Lateef was involved in the killing of Kashmiri Pandit Purana Krishan Bhat of Chowdrigund while Umer Nazir was involved in killing of Nepali Labourer Till Bahadur Thapa at Bon Dialgam Anantnag.
He added that 01 AK 47 rifle and two pistols were recovered from the encounter spot.
“Among 03 neutralised local #terrorists, 02 identified as Lateef Lone of #Shopian, involved in #killing of a Kashmiri Pandit Shri Purana Krishna Bhat & Umer Nazir of Anantnag, involved in killing of Till Bahadur Thapa of Nepal. 01 AK 47 rifle & 2 pistols recovered: ADGP Kashmir”, Kashmir Police zone tweeted.
Talking to reporters at Ganderbal, ADGP Kashmir Vijay Kumar said that the third slain is a new recruit from old town Baramulla. “All the militants involved in the killing of minorities have been neutralised and only one is surviving whose name is Adil Wani, who is being tracked down,” he said. He also said that all the “terrorist modules” involved in the civilian killings in the last three years have been neutralized barring one.
A police spokesman in a statement said that Police along with security forces neutralized three local terrorists linked with LeT in an anti- militant operation in Munj Marg area of Shopian. “Acting on a specific information generated by Police regarding presence of militants in Munj Marg area of Shopian, a joint cordon and search operation was launched by Police, Army (1RR) and CRPF (178Bn) in the said area. During the search operation, as the joint search party approached towards the suspected spot, the hiding terrorists fired indiscriminately upon the joint search party which was retaliated effectively leading to an encounter,” the spokesman said.
He said that in the ensuing encounter, three local militants were killed and their bodies were retrieved from the site of the encounter. “They have been identified as Mohd Lateef Lone, resident of Check Kachidoora, Shopian, Umer Nazir Bhat resident of Check Ban Dialgam, Anantnag and Danish Hussain Kakroo of Old Town Baramulla,” he said.
The spokesman said that all the killed militants were categorized and involved in several crime cases including attacks on Police/SFs and civilian atrocities. It is pertinent to mention here that the killed terrorist Latif Ahmad was involved in killing of a Kashmiri Pandit Shri Purana Krishna Bhat. While as, the killed terrorist Umer Nazir was involved in several terror crime cases including killing of Till Bahadur Thapa of Nepal.
“Incriminating materials, arms & ammunition including 01 AK-47 rifle, 02 Pistols and 02 Grenades were recovered from the site of encounter. All the recovered materials have been taken into case records for further investigation,” the spokesman said.