Lashkar duo killed in Shopian gunfight

SRINAGAR: Two local Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) militants were killed in a gunfight with security forces in J&K’s Shopian district early Tuesday, with police saying one of them was involved in a Kashmiri Pandit’s murder in Pulwama in February this year.

“The militants were identified as Morifat Maqbool & Jazim Farooq alias Abrar. Abrar was involved in the killing of Sanjay Sharma,” ADGP Vijay Kumar (Kashmir Zone) wrote on X, formerly Twitter.

According to a defence spokesman, a joint search was launched by the Army and J&K police late Monday night after inputs about the presence of two terrorists in Shopian’s Alishahpur village.

The area was cordoned off but the terrorists opened fire on the forces at 1am Tuesday, sparking a gunfight in which the two died. Police said a “war-like” cache was found at the spot, including two AK rifles and a pistol.

Sharma, an ATM guard, was gunned down outside his home in the Achan area of Pulwama this February. The killing had sparked fear in the community.

Meanwhile, the authorities have demolished a rundown building of Darul Uloom in Pulwama where two terrorists were killed in March last year. The house stood on government land in Chewa Kalan village. An official said the action was taken on the recommendations of the National Investigation Agency (NIA), which probed the case.

“During investigations, the NIA had arrested some administrators of the Darul Uloom. They are still under custody. The three-room building damaged in the encounter wasn’t put to use since last year,” an official said.