JeM militant commander killed

A Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) militant commander, a Pakistani National, was killed in an encounter with security forces in Kashmir's border district of Baramulla, police said on Saturday.

A police officer here said that a police party with the assistance of Army's 22 Rashtriya Rifles sealed a house on Friday night at Chatlor, Rafiabad, some 80 Km north of the summer capital, after the police got information about the presence of a militant outfit.

The officer claimed that as the search party led by sub-inspector Dilraj Singh entered the house in wee hours on Saturday, an encounter ensued.

"The militant in the hideout fired upon the search party in which the sub-inspector was injured. In the exchange of fire that lasted for some time, the Pakistani terrori, operating under the code names of Showkat, Shazeb, Shoaib, Yasir etc got killed," the officer said.

Police sources said that the militant was involved in several "civilian killings" in Kashmir.
"He had infiltrated into the Valley in the year 2002 and had been active in Kupwara and Sopore, frontier areas of Line of Control," the officer said.

"He was involved in killing of zonal president of a mainstream political party besides murder of a local leader. An AK Series rifle, a pistol along with other arms and ammunition were recovered from the site," he added.