A wanted militant, Muzaffer Naikoo, alias Muza Moulvi, who had survived multiple cordons and called the shots along with Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) operational commander Abdullah Uni for the past nine years, was killed in an operation near Srinagar late on Thursday night.
Security forces launched an operation in Gulzarpora locality of Mochuwa on Thursday following information about the presence of a top militant in the area, a police official said. As the security forces were laying a cordon around the locality, the militant hurled a grenade in a bid to escape but his attempt was thwarted.
A police spokesman said Naikoo, had left the LeT to join Al-Badr a few years. The killing of Naikoo, a close associate of LeT commander Uni and another commander Abu Huzaifa, has put an end to “the effective and ruthless group of militant ring” in north Kashmir’s Sopore area, the police said.
As hundreds of persons gathered for his funeral prayers, police used teargas to disperse the crowds.
Hurriyat factions chairmen Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Syed Ali Geelani paid tributes to the slain militant. “Our youth are arrested, tortured and then shot dead, but latter forces present it as an encounter,” said Mr. Geelani.
A resident of Baghat Sopore, Naikoo joined militancy in 2007 after he completed his Islamic studies from Uttar Pradesh’s Muzaffarnagar.
A tailor by profession, Naikoo performed the nikah of Uni, a Pakistani militant who was killed in 2012, with a local girl. Both militants attracted many local boys into the militant ranks and put pressure on the police and other security agencies with frequent attacks. They succeeded in breaking the security forces' cordons at least three times in north Kashmir.
According to the police, Naikoo, besides attacks on security agencies, was behind the killing of five civilians, including two sisters, in Sopore.
