Top Hizb commander Riyaz Naikoo killed in south Kashmir village

Majid Jahangir
Tribune News Service
Srinagar, May 6

A top Hizbul Mujahideen commander, on the run for eight years, was on Wednesday killed in an encounter with security forces in his home village in Kashmir’s Pulwama district, officials said.

Riyaz Naikoo was killed in a gunfight along with an aide in south Kashmir’s Awantipore sub-district, official sources said.

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The gunfight erupted this morning at Beighpora Awantipora and two militants were killed in the encounter.

“Naikoo is one among the killed militant,” a security official said.

At least 11 people have been injured in clashes after the conclusion of the operation at Beighpora, the official said.

They said clashes broke immediately as the security forces withdrew from the area.    

A massive search operation began since Tuesday evening in Beighpora after joint teams of forces cordoned off the village and dug suspected locations in and around the village, with excavators, to look for a possible militant hideout.

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A police spokesman said contact was established in the operation on Wednesday morning.

The killing of 35-year-old Naikoo is one of the biggest successes for the forces this year and a major setback for the militant group.

Naikoo, a former private school teacher, was and an A-plus plus category militant, had been active for the last eight years. He had taken the command of Hizb after the killing of Yasin Yatoo alias Mehmood Ghaznavi, who was killed in a gunfight in August 2017.  

Meanwhile, in another operation in the same sub-district, two unidentified militants were killed in a gunfight.

The encounter raged between militants and security forces in Shaar-Shaali, Khrew on Pampore outskirts after joint teams of forces launched a cordon and search operation following input about militant presence.

“As forces zeroed on a suspected area, hiding militants fired upon forces which were retaliated, triggering an encounter,” a police officer said.

Srinagar based defence spokesman said, “Two terrorists have been killed and joint operation is in progress.”