A Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) militant who was involved in the killing of 22-year-old Army officer, Lt. Ummer Fayyaz, earlier this year was gunned down on Saturday in south Kashmir. Meanwhile, sporadic violence erupted in parts of the Valley after Id prayers.
A police official said a joint team of police and Army’s 62 Rashtriya Rifles laid an ambush to trap the LeT militant immediately after a tip-off of his movement was received in Kulgam’s Tantray Pora village in the morning.
“The militants tried to escape and fired indiscriminately. The fire was retaliated, in which one militant was killed,” said the police.
The slain militant was identified as Ishfaq Ahmad Padder, a resident of Manchewa-Yaripora, Kulgam. “He was involved in the brutal killing of Army officer Fayyaz in Shopian in May,” said the police.
The newly-commissioned lieutenant was abducted and killed by LeT militants when he was attending a wedding of a relative in Shopian.
“Padder was also involved in robberies at Kader branches of J&K Bank and Ellaquai Dehati Bank. Besides, he was also involved in firing on police station at Yaripora,” said the police.
Clashes again
Violence erupted in parts of the Valley on Id when people clashed with security forces.
Clashes took place at Srinagar’s Eidgah, where hundreds of devotees assembled to offer prayers. During the prayers, masked youth started hurling stones. Security forces lobbed smoke shells to contain the situation.
Similar clashes were reported from south Kashmir’s Anantnag and north Kashmir’s Sopore districts.
