LeT militant killed in J&K encounter

Srinagar: Security forces shot dead a Lashkar-e-Tayyaba (LeT) militant in a brief encounter in Jammu and Kashmir’s southern Kulgam district on Saturday. The police said that the slain militant, Ashfaq Ahmed Paddar, was involved in the murder of Army officer Ummer Fayaz Parray in May. 

Lieutenant Parray, 22, was kidnapped by two masked gunmen from his maternal uncle’s home in Batpora village of Kulgam on May 9. His bullet-riddled corpse was found in Harmain area of neighbouring Shopian the next morning. Parray was on leave to be part of the marriage celebration of his cousin. It was his first leave after joining the Army in December 2016.

The gory incident evoked nation-wide outrage and the renewal of the pledge by the government that “terrorism will be eradicated from the Valley at any cost”. The police said that Paddar was killed during an encounter in Kulgam’s Tantray Pora village. “On specific input, a joint team of police and the Army’s 62 Rashtriya Rifles laid an ambush to trap the dreaded terrorist. He tried to escape and fired indiscriminately.