Hizbul Mujahideen terrorist killed in encounter in J&K's Doda district

The encounter continued for five hours and Tahir Ahmad Bhat of Pulwama belonging to the Hizbul Mujahideen terror outfit was killed during the encounter, the police said

Tahir Ahmad Bhat, belonging to the Hizbul Mujahideen terror outfit was killed in an encounter in the Doda district of Jammu and Kashmir on Sunday, said Inspector General of Police, Jammu zone, Mukesh Singh.

"Last night, we got info about the presence of terrorist Tahir Ahmad Bhat in Khotra village of Doda. We were on the lookout for this terrorist since January 2020 when we killed Hizbul Mujahideen (HM) terrorist Haroon. After Haroon, Bhat was controlling terror activities here," said Singh.

"In a continuous effort to get this terrorist, we finally got specific information about his presence. Late-night a cordon was laid with the help of police, Army, CRPF and SSB and the entire village was cordoned off. During the search, early morning at 7:00 am we homed into a particular house from where the terrorists started indiscriminate firing," he added.

The encounter continued for five hours and Tahir Ahmad Bhat of Pulwama belonging to the Hizbul Mujahideen terror outfit was killed during the encounter, said Singh.

"One AK-47 and two magazines have been recovered. He came active early last year. His name figured as one of the fabricators of IED which was blasted in Banihal on a CRPF camp in March 2019. However, the IED did not explode to its full strength and therefore no damage was done to the CRPF convoy. His name also figured in the killing of the RSS worker Chandrakant Sharma and his PSO in Kishtwar and he was a part of the group--Hizbul Mujahideen which carried out this operation," said Singh.

"Killing of Tahir is a big success for the security forces and Doda as of now can be termed as free from any presence of terrorist there. We are clearing the debris of the house. We'll be clear regarding the presence of any other terrorist after we clear the debris," he added.

Speaking to ANI Singh said that Bhat was involved in terrorist-related activities for the last 1.5 years.

"In Doda, two terrorists--Haroon and Tahir were active. Haroon was killed in January following which we kept on searching for him for three months and finally, he has been killed. He was involved in many cases," said Singh.

"These terrorists were trying to revive terrorist activities in Doda and Kishtwar and after this encounter, their revival plans will get a big jerk," he added.

This comes after Hizbul terrorist Riyaz Naikoo was killed by security forces in Kashmir on May 5.