Six ultras, including a top Lashkar-e-Tayyeba (LeT) commander who had killed journalist Shujaat Bukhari, were killed in a surgical operation by the security forces in south Kashmir’s Bijbehara pocket on Friday morning.
Commander of Srinagar based XV Corps Lt Gen AK Bhatt described the encounter as “big achievement” as there was no collateral damage in the “surgical operation”.
The operation was carried out in Setkipora-Shalagund area of Bijbehara in Anantnag district, around 45 kilometre from here.
The slain terrorists included Azad Malik, alias Dada Malik, a top commander of LeT. The other five were also locals from Bijbehara, Anantnag, Awantipora and Pulwama areas of south Kashmir. Malik was among three terrorists who were accused by police for conspiring and executing the killing plot of noted journalist Shujaat Bukhari in June this year.
Police had said that Pakistani Lashkar Commander Naveed Jutt was also involved in the killing. Jutt had escaped from police custody from a civil hospital in Srinagar after killing two policemen who were escorting him.