In an encounter with the Jammu and Kashmir Police on Monday (August 23), a key commander of the Resistance Front and an affiliate of the terrorist organisation Lashkar-e-Taiba, along with one of his aides were killed.
The police in Srinagar encountered these most wanted terrorists in a Bollywood-style operation, ten undercover cops cornering Abbas Sheikh, a top commander of the Lashkar-e-Taiba, and shooting him and an associate dead in the Aloochi Bagh district of the Union Territory's capital.
The dead commander Abbas Sheikh and aide Saqib Manzoor were responsible for a number of murders in the city, as well as inspiring young people to join the terror ranks, revealed IGP Kashmir Vijay Kumar.
"Abbas Sheikh was the self-styled chief of The Resistance Front. At the behest of Sheikh, Saqib Manzoor had carried out several killings. They had spread terror in the area," he added.
The police officials were hurried to the area after getting information about Sheikh and his associate Manzoor's presence, officials said and caught them off guard. They were gunned down before they could retaliate and cause any harm.
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"We knew they were in the area because we had information. Ten police officers dressed in civilian clothes quickly encircled the location and challenged the terrorists, who began shooting. The two were killed in retaliatory fire," Vijay Kumar said. He called the killing of Sheikh and Manzoor a "great success."
Sheikh, 46, was one of the longest-surviving terrorists, according to authorities. He used to work with Hizbul Mujahideen before defecting to Lashkar and then TRF two years ago.
Manzoor, a post-graduate student when he joined the TRF last year, advanced fast in the ranks because he was believed to have carried out some of the killings in and around Srinagar on Sheikh's
orders.