Pulwama: A top commander of Hizb-ul-Mujahideen was killed in a military operation in Uzrampathri area of south Kashmir’s Pulwama district, police said on Wednesday.
A senior police officer said that a militant has been killed who has been identified as Feroz Ahmad Dar of Heff-Shrimal area of Shopian district.
Feroz was the district commander of Hizb who had joined militant ranks in 2017 and was the lone surviving militant in Zainapora hamlet of Shopian which was known as the hotbed of militancy.
A police spokesman in a statement said that armed forces killed ‘A+’ categorized militant of Hizb involved in several crimes including an attack on Minority Guard in the year 2018 at Zainapora, Shopian, in which four Police personnel were killed.
“During the intervening night of 14/15 December, acting on a specific input regarding the presence of a militant in village Uzrampathri area of Pulwama, a joint cordon and search operation was launched by Police, 44RR and 182Bn CRPF in the said area,” police said.
During the search operation, as the presence of the militant got ascertained, he was given repeated opportunities to surrender; however he fired indiscriminately upon the joint search party which was retaliated leading to the operation, it said.
In the ensuing operation, one militant of Hizb was killed and his body was retrieved from the site of operation. He has been identified as Feroz Ahmad Dar, son of Abdul Khaliq, a resident of Heff-Shrimal Shopian, police said.
As per police records, the police statement mentions that the slain was A+ categorized militant and was part of groups involved in several militancy crime cases including attacks on armed forces and civilian atrocities.
Police added, “The slain was active since 2017 and involved in several militant crime cases including an attack on the Minority Guard in December 2018 at Zainapora resulting in the killing of four Police personnel and looting their service rifles. He was also involved in the killing of a girl namely Ishrat Muneer daughter of Muneer Ahmad Bhat resident of Dangerpora Pulwama in February 2019. He was involved in the killing of a nonlocal labour namely Charnajeet, son of Hans Raj, a resident of Fazila Punjab and injuring others in October 2019 when they were loading Apple boxes in a vehicle in Zainapora area of Shopian. Besides he was also instrumental in luring the gullible youth to join militant ranks”.
Incriminating materials, arms and ammunition including one AK rifle along with three magazines were also recovered from his possession. All the recovered materials have been taken into case records for further investigation, the statement said.
Police have registered a case under relevant sections of law and an investigation has been initiated.
People are requested to cooperate with Police till the operation site is completely sanitized and cleared of all the explosive materials if any, the statement ends.
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