News Brief
Longest-Surviving Hizbul Terrorist In J&K Killed In Kulgam Encounter
Indian Army carrying out an encounter. (Representative Image)
Five terrorists, including a top commander of terror outfit Hizbul Mujahideen, was killed in the encounter with security forces in Jammu and Kashmir's Kulgam on Thursday (19 December).
The Hizbul Mujahideen commander was reportedly the longest-surviving terrorist in the Kashmir valley.
Two Army soldiers were also injured in the encounter.
Farooq Ahmad Bhat, the Hizbul commander killed in the operation, had been active in the Kashmir Valley for nearly a decade and was one of the most wanted terrorists in the region.
A joint security forces team comprising personnel from the J&K Police and the Indian Army cordoned off Kadder village in south Kashmir’s Kulgam on the intervening night of Wednesday and Thursday after receiving intelligence about terrorist presence in the area.
According to police, as the joint team closed in on the target before dawn, the terrorists attempted to escape by rushing out of a house towards an orchard.
They opened indiscriminate fire to break the security cordon, injuring two soldiers.
Officials reported that the joint forces retaliated, triggering a gunfight that resulted in the deaths of all five terrorists. All the slain terrorists were from Kulgam district.
A native of Yaripora in Kulgam, Bhat had joined the terrorist ranks in 2015 and went on to become the longest-surviving terrorist in the Valley.
His name figured in the most-wanted terrorists’ list in 2021 and was categorised as an ‘A +’ terrorist in police records.
The other terrorists killed in the encounter were identified as Mushtaq Ahmad Itoo, Adil Hussain, Yasir Javid, and Mohammad Irfan.
Itoo, from Mohammadpur village in Kulgam, joined terror outfit Hizbul Mujahideen in March 2020.
Hussain, from Khandipora, had been an active terrorist for over a year, while Irfan, from Hawoorah, joined the terrorist ranks in 2022.
Javid became a terrorist earlier this year.
Multiple identity cards were recovered from the slain terrorists, including Aadhaar cards, voter identity cards and ATM cards, according to the police.
