Hizbul Commander Farooq Nali among 5 militants killed in Kulgam encounter

20/12/2024

SRINAGAR, Dec 19: Security forces achieved a breakthrough by eliminating five militants, including the senior-most commander of Hizbul Mujahideen, during a gunbattle in Jammu and Kashmir's Kulgam district on Thursday.
Police said Hizbul Commander Farooq Ahmed Bhat, also known as Farooq Nali, a resident of Deschen Yemrich in Kulgam, was killed in the encounter in the Kader area of the district, along with four of his associates.
According to police records, Farooq Nali, in his early 40s, had been active since 2015 and was one of the longest-surviving militants. He was categorised as "A++" -highly active and a marked man for security agencies.
Police officials said that after the death of Hizb operational commander Saifullah in a 2020 gunbattle in Srinagar, Nali had taken over the command of the group in Kashmir.
Addressing a press conference in south Kahsmir, Brigadier Anirudh Chauhan, Commander of Army's 2 Sector Rashtriya Rifles said the killing of Nali is a huge setback to Hizbul Mujahideen.
"We don't say that Hizb is probably out now. But it will certainly take a lot of time for them to come back to where they were and to cause damage to the security of the region, especially south Kashmir, " the Army commander said.
He said Hizb is not the only terror group operating here and forces will continue anti terror operations against the other groups.
" We are quite confident that in times to come we will be able to achieve zero terror," he said.
Giving details about the operation Brigadier Chauhan said that for the last two months Army and J&K Police have been after a terrorist group of Hizb that was operating on the border of Kulgam and Shopian districts.
" We got a huge success last evening when we got an input about the group hiding in a residential area in Kader Kulgam. A joint operation was launched by Army, Police, and CRPF and a cordon was laid at around 3 AM. After 20 minutes the terrorists opened fire from multiple places which was retaliated and their efforts to escape were foiled," Brigadier Chauhan said, adding the locals were later rescued from the area.
"The operation was launched which concluded in six hours that led to the killing of top five Hizb terrorists," he said.
Two soldiers were injured during the gunbattle who were shifted to Army's Srinagar based 92 base hospital.
Deputy Inspector General (DIG) South Kashmir Javid Iqbal Matoo identified the five slain as Farooq Ahmed Bhat, Mushtaq Ahmad Itoo, Irfan Yaqoob, Adil Hajam and Yasir Javid, all residents of Kulgam.
"Farooq Ahmed Bhat joined terrorist ranks in 2015. Similarly, Mushtaq Itoo was active since 2020. These terrorists were involved in many FIRs. They were involved in many terrorist-initiated activities and criminal acts. There are 37 FIRs against Farooq Bhat in different police stations. This will give you an idea of the terrorist's involvement and how dangerous he was," DIG said.
He said arms and ammunition, documents, and cash were recovered from the encounter site.

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