Hizb commander gunned down in Doda encounter

Tribune News Service

Doda, January 15

In the first major success of the year for security forces, a top district commander of the Hizbul Mujahideen was gunned down today in a fierce encounter at Tantna village of Doda’s Gundana tehsil.

The slain district commander, identified as Haroon Abbas Wani, alias Moin-un-Islam, was a resident of Furqanabad Ghat in Doda district.

Haroon, an MBA-turned-militant from Ghat village of Doda, had joined the militant ranks in September 2018. He was an ‘A’ category militant and operated in Kishtwar and Doda along with other militants.

He was a part of group of Hizb militants who were involved in the killing of Parihar brothers in 2018, weapon-snatching from Daleep Kumar, PSO of Deputy Commissioner, Kishtwar, in 2019 and the killing of RSS leader from Kishtwar Chanderkant and his PSO in 2019.

“An encounter started at 7 am on Wednesday morning that led to the killing of Haroon Abass Wani. He was hit with bullets on both legs after which he fell from a hill,” a source said.

According to the official statement, the J&K Police, Rashtriya Rifles (RR) unit of the Army and other security agencies launched the cordon of the area in the early hours on Tuesday on the basis of specific intelligence inputs.

“Braving tough hilly terrain and heavy snowfall, they laid the cordon by early morning in the village. During the search, the militants hiding in the area fired on the search party and in the subsequent encounter, Wani was killed. It was the result of better synergy on the part of security forces and meticulous planning by the District SSP and Commanding Officer of the 10 RR that the most dreaded militant of the area was gunned down,” Dilbag Singh, Director General of Police (DGP), J&K Police, told reporters in Jammu on Wednesday evening.

“A huge quantity of arms and ammunition, including an AK-47 rifle, three magazines, one Chinese grenade, a radio set and ammunition of AK-47 was recovered. The search for another militant hiding in the area is in progress,” the DGP said. He said, “With the killing of Haroon and his associates three months back, most of the perpetrators behind the cases of terror attacks on innocent civilians in Kishtwar and weapon-snatching in that area have been eliminated.”