Play all audios:
A Lashkar-e-Toiba commander was killed in a rather brief shootout with government forces in Chakoora hamlet of Pulwama district on Wednesday evening. A police official said that at around
5.15 pm, militants attacked a patrol of army’s 55 Rashtriya Rifles batallion in Chakoora. The army men, according to the official, retaliated immediately at full throttle leading to a
shootout which ended with the killing of a militant. “Soon after the shootout, the forces ring-fenced the entire village and began a door-to-door search operation,” the official said, adding
that reinforcements were also rushed to the spot. He said that as the operation was in progress, local residents piled out of their homes amid heavy rains and threw stones and bricks on the
forces who responded by firing pellets and tear smoke shells. A local resident said that militants and forces exchanged fire when the former entered the village to lay a siege. A police
spokesperson in a statement identified the slain militant as Irfan Ahmad Shiekh of Chakoora, Pulwama. He said that Sheikh was the district commander of Lashkar-e-Toiba for Pulwama. At the
time of filing this report, district police chief Chandan Kohli told Greater Kashmir that the searches in the area were still on. Meanwhile, authorities snapped the mobile internet services
in the area. A statement issued by the police said Irfan “had a long history of crime records for which several cases were registered against him.” “He was involved in conspiring and
executing several militant attacks on security establishments in the area including grenade attacks,” the statement reads.