Jaish-e-Mohammed’s top commander killed in Pulwama encounter
Jaish-e-Mohammed’s top commander Sham Sofi was killed in an encounter by security forces in Tral, Pulwama. Encounter with terrorists is still going on. Army and policemen have cordoned off the entire area. Search operation is going on. Jammu and Kashmir IG Vijay Kumar has confirmed the death of the Jaish commander. Security forces launched a cordon and search operation after receiving a tip-off about the presence of terrorists in Tilwani Mohalla Waggad in Tral area of Awantipora in south Kashmir’s Pulwama district. He said the operation turned into an encounter after the terrorists opened fire on the security forces. One terrorist was killed in retaliation by the security forces. Kashmir Inspector General of Police Vijay Kumar said that the terrorist has been identified as Sham Sofi, the top commander of Jaish-e-Mohammed. He tweeted, ‘Jaish-e-Mohammed’s top commander Sham Sofi killed in encounter.
In the last three days, eight terrorists have been killed by the security forces. Five terrorists have been killed in Feripora in Shopian district and one each in Anantnag and Bandipora, respectively, within a span of a few hours. The first encounter took place during the siege and search operation in the Feripora area of Shopian. This is the fifth encounter between security forces and terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir in the last 30 hours. Some civilians were killed by terrorists last week and on Monday, a junior commissioned officer of the army and four soldiers were killed in an attack by terrorists. Last week, terrorists also killed some civilians.
The joint team cordoned off the area in view of the possibility of hiding the terrorists. The patrol party was fired upon, in response to which the jawans also opened fire and an encounter broke out. He said that seven terrorists were killed in the encounter, out of which five have been killed in Shopian and one each in Anantnag and Bandipora respectively. Three of the slain terrorists are Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorists.
