A top Al-Badr commander was shot in an encounter on Tuesday evening in north Kashmir’s Sopore district. The encounter of militant commander Abdul Gani Khawaja is considered to be a huge success for Kashmir police.
How Did This Happen?
The police and the Army launched a search operation in Sopore’s Tujjar area after receiving information about militants hiding in the local area.
As the force set its target on the house where the militants were hiding, the latter open fired on the security forces.
In the official statement of the team, the police said that they allowed Gani to surrender.
“After the search operation, when the presence of the terrorist was ascertained, he was given an opportunity to surrender. However, he fired indiscriminately upon the joint search party, leading to an encounter,”. They added, “In the ensuing encounter, one terrorist was killed and his body was retrieved from the site. The killed terrorist has been identified as Ab Gani Khawaja chief of proscribed terrorist outfit Al- Badr.”
He Was A Dangerous Man…
Khawaja who was associated with Al Badr and was its operational chief in the Valley returned to the militancy in 2018.
He was initially associated with Hizbul Mujahideen and was shifted to Lashkar-e-Taiba later.
Khawaja had first crossed over to Pakistan for arms training in 2000 and returned two years later. However, he was later arrested by J&K Police and then released sometime later.
Police mentioned that he was involved in several “attacks on forces and civilians” in north Kashmir, including two shoot-and-run attacks in Sopore in which several paramilitary personnel were killed.
“He was also involved in providing arms and ammunition to terrorist associates for carrying out subversive activities in the area,” Police said, adding that he was operating in the areas of North Kashmir, including Langate, Upper/Lower Qaziabad, Handwara, Sopore, Zainageer, Tujjar, and Barahampora.
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