The presence of terrorists was ascertained in Warpora village of Sopore during a joint cordon and search operation on Thursday night.
The operation concluded in the morning without any collateral damage and the situation at the encounter site is under control now, the Kashmir Police said. While they were given chances to surrender, they fired indiscriminately. Later, the 2 LeT terrorists were killed in the operation,” Inspector General of Police (IGP) Vijay Kumar said.
They were killed in the Warpora area of Sopore in Jammu and Kashmir on the intervening night of July 22-23. The night-long battle at Warpora was initiated following action by the Sopore Police, according to sources.
The police identified the slain militants as Fayaz Ahmad War alias Rukana alias Umar from Warpora and Shaheen Ahmad Mir alias Shaheen Molvi from Cherpora in Budgam.
“War was a top commander of the LeT. He had a long history of terror crime cases, as he was associated with terrorism since the year 2008,” Mr. Kumar said and also involved in killing civilians. War had surrendered earlier but “after his release, he again worked as a terrorist associate for the Hizb-ul-Mujahideen and was detained under the Public Safety Act”.
Mr. Kumar said, “In March 2020, War rejoined terrorist ranks. He was the key mastermind in planning and executing terror attacks on security establishments and civilian killings and figured among the list of most-wanted terrorists in north Kashmir. He was the last active terrorist who perpetrated a series of various terror crimes and violence in north Kashmir”.
According to the police, War was behind the major attacks in 2020 and 2021 in north Kashmir. “He was also behind the firing upon municipal councilors in Sopore,” the police stated.
Arms and ammunition, including two AK-47 rifles and four magazines, were recovered from the encounter site, the police added.
A disturbing video was released of a house that was destroyed during the encounter in just one day startling netizens not only with the brevity of life but also the fragility of living in a battle-torn Kashmir. It seems to be the present trend of terrorists to forcefully enter into civilians homes and fight under their refuge, making it tough for the Army to fight back because it is on civilian territory.
This is the video of house which was destroyed during encounter in just one day .#Warporasopore ? pic.twitter.com/T3IfmthLwa
— Junaid Bhat Photographer (@Junaidbhatphoto) July 24, 2021