Militant who was killed in a gunfight with government forces in south Kashmir’s Pulwama district on Wednesday, was identified as a Pakistani national affiliated with proscribed Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) outfit.
PTI while quoting a senior police officer said on Friday, that the militant operated in south Kashmir under code names “Abu Saifullah” and “Abu Qasim”.
He said the militant was wanted in connection with the abduction and killing of two civilians and threatening special police officers (SPOs) and non-local labourers to leave the Valley.
A close associate of JeM self-styled chief commander Qari Yasir of Pakistan, who was killed in an encounter with forces in Kupwara district in July 2013, Abu Saifullah was trapped along with his local associate during a search and cordon operation at Zaintrag village in the Awantipora area of Pulwama on Tuesday morning, he said.
“Abu Saifullah has been active in Tral and the Khrew area of Awantipora for more than one-and-a-half years and was a close associate of slain JeM chief Qari Yasir. He was involved in the abduction and killing of two civilians – Abdul Qadeer Kohli and Manzoor Ahmad Kohli – and injuring a shopkeeper, Naseer Ahmad Ganie, last year,” he said.
Saifullah was also wanted in a case related to pasting of posters wherein the SPOs were threatened to leave their jobs and non-local labourers were asked to leave the valley, the officer said.