Top LeT commander Naveed Jat and his associate killed in Budgam gunfight, says police

Srinagar: The Jammu and Kashmir Police on Wednesday said that top Lashkar-e-Toiba commander Naveed Jatt was killed along with his associate in a gunfight in Budgam.

A police spokesperson said Naveed Jatt alias Hanzallah affiliated with LeT was killed in the gunfight that raged since early Wednesday.

According to the police, Jatt was involved in the assassination of Rising Kashmir newspaper’s editor and journalist Shujaat Bukhari, who was assassinated on June 14 outside his office in Srinagar, a day before Eid and few minutes before Iftaar (breaking of Fast during Ramzan).

Bukhari succumbed to his injuries and was declared dead on arrival.

On November 23, police claimed that one of the six militants killed in a gunfight with armed forces in Sutkipora area of Bijbehara in south Kashmir’s Anantnag district, Azad Malik, was also accused of having been involved in the assassination.

In the gunfight, three army men were wounded.