Top LeT commander Usman Bhai killed in Srinagar gunfight, four security personnel injured

Top Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) commander, Usman Bhai was killed in a gunfight with the security forces in downtown Srinagar city on Saturday, police said.

IGP, Kashmir, V.K.Birdi told reporters that top LeT commander, Usman Bhai, who hailed from Pakistan and was involved in a series of crimes, was killed in the daylong gunfight in the Khanyar area.

"Usman was wanted in many militancy-related cases including the killing of non-locals and security forces. He was also involved in the killing of Inspector Manzoor Ahmad Wani who was critically wounded on October 29, 2023, in the Eidgah area of Srinagar city," he said.

Two CRPF jawans and two policemen were injured in this gunfight on Saturday.

Officials said that following intelligence inputs about the presence of terrorists, security forces started a CASO (Cordon & Search Operation) in the Khanyar area.

"As the security forces came closer to the hiding terrorists, they fired at the security forces triggering an encounter which is now going on," an official said.

Saturday’s encounter in the heart of downtown Srinagar was the first such incident in the area in more than 10 years.

This area was once the hotbed of separatist sentiment and militants used to move freely in this area. With the passage of time, security forces managed to eliminate militancy from these areas. It was believed that Srinagar city in general, and the downtown areas in particular, had been cleared of militancy.

However, the gunfight in the Khanyar area seems to have dented this belief.

In another ongoing operation, two terrorists were gunned down by the security forces near Halkan Gali in the Shangus-Larnoo area of Anantnag district.

On Friday, terrorists shot at and injured two non-local labourers, Sanjay and Usman, both belonging to Uttar Pradesh, in Mazhama village of Magam area of Budgam district. Both injured were immediately shifted to a hospital where doctors described their condition as stable.

Last month, terrorists killed six workers of an infrastructure project company and a local doctor in the Gagangir area of the Ganderbal district. The workers were building a tunnel from Gagangir to Sonamarg tourist resort to make the Srinagar-Sonamarg an all-weather road and generate economic growth and employment in the area. Those killed in the Gagangir attack included six non-local workers and a doctor belonging to the Budgam district.

Later on, terrorists killed three army soldiers and two porters in the Botapathri area of Gulmarg in Baramulla district.