Sunjuwan army camp attack mastermind killed in Kashmir encounter

Mufti Waqas, a top commander of the Jaish-e-Mohammad, was also involved in attacks in Lethpora, Pulwama district police lines and the BSF camp at Srinagar airport.

Security forces on Monday shot dead a top Jaish-e-Mohammad commander, Mufti Waqas, the mastermind of last month’s Sunjuwan army camp attack that killed seven persons.

Security forces’ personnel stand guard at Sunjuwan Military Station in Jammu during a militant attack.(PTI file)

An army spokesman said Waqas was killed in a joint surgical operation — between the army, police and CRPF — based on specific intelligence of his presence at Hatwar area of Awantipora in Pulwama.

“Waqas, operation commander of Jaish-e-Mohammad, was eliminated in Awantipora. He was the mastermind behind several terrorist attacks on security forces, including the Sunjuwan attack. Weapons and incriminating materials like IED preparation material has been recovered. He is a foreign terrorist,” SP Pani, IG Kashmir, told ANI.

Besides Sunjuwan, Waqas was involved in attacks in Lethpora, Pulwama district police lines and the BSF camp at Srinagar airport, tweeted Kashmir DGP SP Vaid.

“There have been no civilian casualties or collateral damage. This has resulted in a major dent to the designs of the Jaish-e-Mohammad because after the elimination of their earlier operational commander, Noor Mohd Tantrey, in the same area in December last year, his successor too has been killed,” the army spokesman said.

On February 10, a group of heavily armed Jaish-e-Mohammad militants entered the army camp in Jammu after hurling grenades and using automatic gunfire.

Three terrorists, all of them Pakistan nationals who managed to enter the Junior Commissioned Officer’s residential quarters, were killed in the anti-terror operation by the security forces.

The seven killed in the attack included six soldiers and one civilian.