Srinagar, June 18: A day after a militant was killed in gun battle in Jammu and Kashmir's Bandipora district, a senior Army officer said the slain militant was associated with Lashkar-e-Taiba and his killing was a big success for the security forces.
Army said Umar Lone, a resident of Pattan in Baramulla district was killed in a gun battle in Bandipora on Monday.
“Lone was active since 2018 and was a category ‘A' terrorist, associated with the LeT and the TRF (The Resistance Front),” Commander of Army's 3 Sector, Rashtriya Rifles (RR), Vipul Tyagi told media persons in Bandipora on Tuesday.
The operation was launched during the intervening night of June 16/17 as the army had been receiving specific information of the presence of terrorists in the Aragam area of Bandipora for some time.
“The forces have kept an eye on the entire area and during the intervening night of June 16/17 a specific intelligence input was received,” Brigadier Tyagi said and added “on that specific intelligence input Army, Jammu and Kashmir Police and CRPF launched a joint operation”.
He said during the operation the ambush party witnessed a suspected movement and opened fire on the terrorists during which a terrorist identified as Umar Lone, a resident of Wussankhui Pattan was killed.
“Lone was involved in several terrorist activities including the recruitment, running an Over Ground Worker (OGW) network and in killings,” the Army officer said.
“The elimination of Omar Lone is a big success for the security forces,” he added.
He said for the past few weeks Army, Jammu and Kashmir Police and CRPF have maintained high operational momentum which has provided tremendous success to the forces and killed several old terrorists.
“We have also received peoples support during these operations and such operations will be continued in future also,” he added.
