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Srinagar: Hizbul Mujahideen operations chief Riyaz Naikoo was among 64 militants killed this year in one of 27 operations launched against militants in Jammu and Kashmir, Inspector General of Police (IGP) Vijay Kumar said.
He said that Naikoo was among the top three militant commanders killed this year. The others were Jaish-e-Mohammad’s valley chief Qari Yasir and Burhan Koka of Ansar Gazwat-ul-Hind.
According to Kumar, Naikoo’s killing would help in bringing down recruitment of local youth in militancy as Naikoo was “influential” among youth and militants. Kumar said that Naikoo would release videos almost every month to motivate youth towards militancy and to pass directions to his cadre to execute civilians and policemen. “I have no hesitation to say he was influential in recruiting youth,” said Kumar.
The IGP said that it took them six months to track Naikoo. A special team tracked and interrogated his OGWs to know about the whereabouts of the slain commander, he said.
When the cordon and search operation was launched in Naikoo’s native Beighpora village on Tuesday, security forces could not locate him in despite conducting many searches. But the cordon was not lifted and on Wednesday morning, Naikoo fired on government forces, starting a gunfight, Kumar said.
Replying to a reporter’s query, Kumar said that now there will be some other Hizb commander, and “we will go after him, too”.
On the Handwara encounter, Kumar said that Lashkar commander Haider’s killing was also a big jolt for the outfit. “As for the second incident at Handwara in which three CRPF men were killed, we have identified two Lashkar militants involved in the act,” he said.
On a query about The Resistance Front (TRF), the IGP said that TRF was not a new outfit but a “shadow of Lashkar”.
“Post August 5 last year, there was international pressure on Pakistan to stop militancy, so Lashkar floated The Resistance Front (TRF),” the IGP said.
He said that it was necessary to suspend mobile phones and internet to prevent rumour mongering and to maintain law and order. “We will review the situation and restore services soon,” he added.