How forces got Jaish chief in 10 minutes

Majid Jahangir

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, March 6

Barely a few minutes of gunfight led to the killing of Jaish-e-Mohammad top militant in Kashmir who masterminded all recent fidayaeen attacks in J&K.

Jaish operational commander Mufti Waqas, a resident of Pakistan, was killed in a meticulous operation on Monday evening at Hatiwara, Awantipora, nearly 20 km from Srinagar.

Upon receiving “pinpoint” input about Waqas’ presence in a house with a small attic in the village on Monday afternoon, security forces planned the operation. The police suspect that Waqas had arrived in the village late Sunday. A joint operation was launched by the police, 50 Rashtriya Rifles Battalion and 130 Battalion of the CRPF in a congested locality, though the suspected house was located in an open area, sources said, adding that the security forces had considered the possibility of the operation continuing through the night.

“After the cordon was laid around 5 pm, the militant commander was offered surrender through the house owner, which he declined. The inmates of the house were taken out. The militant commander came out running and fired in a bid to escape. In the nearly 10-minute gunfight Waqas was killed,” a security officer in south Kashmir said. “It was a crisp and clean operation.”

The anti-militancy operation was called off by 7 in the evening.

After infiltrating into the Valley last year, Waqas was operating in the Tral area of Pulwama district, said police sources. Waqas and the 3-foot-tall local militant commander Noor Mohammad Trali together revived the Jaish outfit and planned fidayeen attacks. Trali was killed in December last year close to the village where Waqas was killed last evening. “Waqas was close to Jaish founder Maulana Azhar Masood, whose nephew Talha Rashid worked under Waqas,” another police officer in Srinagar said while terming the killing of Waqas as the biggest success of the year. Talha was killed in November last year in a gunfight in Pulwama.

A police spokesman on Monday had said the slain militant commander was the chief architect of attacks on the security forces, including the strikes at District Police Lines, Pulwama, on August 26 last year, Lethpora CRPF camp on January 1 and Sunjuwan Army camp on February 10.

Meanwhile, Tral, Awantipora and Pampore towns observed a shutdown over the killing of Waqas.