3 LeT terrorists killed in encounter with security forces in J&K's Baramulla

The terrorists who were with him did not allow him to surrender and forced him to retaliate, Colonel Musavi said.Police said Kantroo was involved in the killings of several security personnel as well as civilians and was among the top 10 most-wanted terrorists in the Kashmir valley.Kantroo started out as an overground worker OGW of the Hizbul Mujahideen HM terror outfit and was arrested in 2005.

Three Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) members, including a top commander of the proscribed outfit, Yousuf Kantroo, who was one of the longest-surviving terrorists in Kashmir, were killed in an over-36-hour-long encounter with security forces in Jammu and Kashmir's Baramulla district, police said on Friday.

Earlier, police had claimed that four terrorists were killed in an operation in Baramulla, but later, they said three bodies were retrieved from the encounter site.

Security forces launched a cordon-and-search operation in the Malwah area of the north Kashmir district in the early hours of Thursday, acting on specific inputs about the presence of terrorists there.

Two terrorists, including Kantroo, were killed on Thursday and another ultra was killed on Friday.

Four soldiers and a police personnel had sustained injuries during the initial exchange of fire on Thursday.

''Only 03 dead bodies of #terrorists recovered from the #encounter site,'' the Kashmir zone police said in a tweet.

Police identified the slain ultras as Yusuf Dar alias Kantroo, Hilal Sheikh alias Hanzalla and Faisal Dar -- all affiliated with the LeT.

Arms and ammunition were seized from the site of the encounter, police said, adding that the operation has been concluded.

Srinagar-based defence spokesperson Colonel Emron Musavi said the security forces made sincere efforts to make Faisal Dar surrender, but the other terrorists did not allow him to do so.

''The security forces came to know that one of the terrorists was Dar, who was newly recruited. A sincere call for him to surrender was made. His parents were also brought to the encounter site and even they appealed to him to lay down arms. The terrorists who were with him did not allow him to surrender and forced him to retaliate,'' Colonel Musavi said.

Police said Kantroo was involved in the killings of several security personnel as well as civilians and was among the top 10 most-wanted terrorists in the Kashmir valley.

Kantroo started out as an overground worker (OGW) of the Hizbul Mujahideen (HM) terror outfit and was arrested in 2005. He was released in 2008. He again joined the terror ranks in 2017 and started killing innocent civilians, police personnel and political workers. Subsequently, he joined the LeT, police said.

Kantroo was involved in dozens of cases of civilian atrocities and killings of security personnel, they said, adding that he was involved in the killings of Special Police Officer Mohammad Ishfaq Dar and his brother Umer Ahmad Dar in March, BDC Chairman Sardar Bhupinder Singh at Khag in September 2020 and CRPF personnel Riyaz Ahmad Rather, a resident of Nawgam Anantnag at Kanihama, in December 2017.

He was also involved in the killings of several political workers, grenade-throwing incidents and abductions and killings of police and Army personnel.

Inspector General of Police, Kashmir, Vijay Kumar congratulated the forces for conducting a successful anti-terrorist operation and eliminating one of the most-wanted terrorists in the valley.

He described Kantroo's killing as a major success.