Top LeT militant trapped in Pampore gunfight

Srinagar, Oct 16: A top local Lashkar-e-Taiba militant is believed to be trapped in an encounter that broke out in the Pampore area of south Kashmir’s Awantipora sub district in the wee hours, police said.

This is the third gunfight in Kashmir in the past 15 hours.

The latest gunfight broke at Drangbal Pampore when joint teams of security forces launched an operation after receiving information about the presence of militants in the area.

“ The encounter broke when the hiding militants fired upon the security forces,” an official said.

The exchange of fire is on in the area.

Inspector General of Police Kashmir Vijay Kumar said a top LeT Commander Umar Mushtaq Khanday who was involved in killing of two cops at Baghat is trapped in Pampore encounter.

"LeT commander amongst #top 10 #militant namely Umar Mustaq Khandey who was involved in #killing of two police personnel at Baghat #Srinagar & other terror crimes trapped in Pampore #Encounter: IGP Kashmir." Kashmir police zone tweeted.

On Friday evening, two local militants were killed in two separate encounters in Pulwama and Srinagar. Police said the two were involved in the recent killings of a civilian and a Probationary Police Sub-Inspector in Srinagar. Police also said the two were also “collaborators in recent killings of one chemist and two teachers in Srinagar.”