Hizbul Mujahideen chief shot dead in encounter in Srinagar

The operational chief of terror group Hizbul Mujahideen was shot dead in a gunfight near Srinagar on Sunday (November 1), in what the security forces said was a “major success against militancy”.

Saifullah Mir, who was made the chief of the outfit in May, was gunned down in an encounter on Sunday afternoon, while one of his accomplices has been arrested, Kashmir inspector general of police Vijay Kumar told media persons.

“We got information last night about a terrorist present in a house in Srinagar. An operation was launched and during the encounter today, he was killed. We’re 95 per cent certain that he’s Hizbul Mujahideen’s chief commander. It’s a great achievement by our security forces” Kumar told ANI.

Mir was made the head of Hizbul Mujahideen after the Indian Army killed his predecessor Reyaz Naikoo in an encounter in Beighpora, his native village. Mir hails from the Malangpora village, which is just about 5 km away from Beighpora in south Kashmir’s Pulwama district.

The district has seen many militant attacks. In one of the biggest terror strikes in recent years, a jeep filled with explosives rammed into a CRPF convoy on the Jammu-Srinagar highway in the district on February 14, 2019, killing 40 soldiers.

India retaliated by carrying out surgical strikes on terror camps in Balakot in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.