Lashkar commander shot in J&K encounter

Lashkar-e-Taiba commander Hilal Moulvi, who had masterminded the killing of Palhalan sarpanch Ghulam Mohd Yatoo, was killed in an encounter in Srinagar on Thursday.

Acting on a tip-off about the presence of self-styled LeT commander Hilal Moulvi in old city, police laid a cordon around Narparistan in the Fatehkadal area of the city in the wee hours.

As the police personnel were zeroing in on the target house, the militant hurled grenades on them. Moulvi hurled four grenades at the security forces before resorting to indiscriminate firing. The cops returned the fire, triggering a gunfight, which ended with the killing of the militant, police said.

The militant, Hilal Moulvi, a resident of Palhalan in North Kashmir, studied religion at Islamic Study Centre in Deoband and had joined militancy in 2010.

Senior superintendent of police Ashiq Bhukari confirmed that the militant was member of the banned Lashkar-e-Taiba and wanted in many cases.

He was wanted in killing of a sarpanch and a civilian in North Kashmir. Moulvi's name had also surfaced in the March's militant attack in Bemina.

"He was the main motivator and on a mission of recruiting the youth in LeT, especially in Srinagar city," said a senior police official.

The encounter is a second major militant-related incident in Srinagar this year. In the first suicide attack in Kashmir in three years in March this year, militants stormed into a CRPF camp in the Bemina area of the city, killing five jawans and injuring seven others. The two militants, who carried out the attack, were also killed.

However, militancy-related incidents are rare in Srinagar's old city area, which was once a hotbed of militancy. "An encounter has happened in old city after several years," said a police official.

The area, a bastion of moderate separatist leader Mirwaiz Umar Farooq has, however, always been in news for stone pelting on security forces.

Cases Moulvi was involved
Mastermind in killing of sarpanch Ghulam Mohammad Yatoo at Palhalan
Killing of one civilian Bashir Ahmad of Kunzer, Tangmarg.
Two grenade attacks in Pattan
Stone-pelting incidents