A close relative of Jaish founder Masood Azhar, slain Abu Saifullah alias Lamboo was one of the key conspirators in the 2019 Pulwama terror attack in which 40 CRPF personnel were killed
Srinagar: Top Jaish-e-Mohammad commander from Pakistan, Abu Saifullah alias Lamboo, who had been a key conspirator in 2019 Pulwama terror attack, was among two militants killed in an encounter in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pulwama district on Saturday.
Forty CRPF personnel were killed in when an explosive laden car had rammed into a CRPF convoy in Pulwama in 2019.
Also known as Adnan and a close relative of Jaish-e-Mohammad founder Maulana Masood Azhar, sources said that Saifullah was the operational commander of JeM in South Kashmir. He was an expert in encrypted messaging applications and also in fabricating IEDs. Ever since his infiltration into Kashmir in 2017, he mostly operated from Awantipora area.
Giving details, sources said that the encounter took place at Namibian and Marsar forests in the morning. The identification of second terrorist killed in the encounter is being ascertained.
The encounter started after security forces launched a search operation after receiving information about the presence of militants in the area. “Exact location of encounter is between Namibian & Marsar, general area #Dachigam forest,” the police said in a tweet.
A joint team of Police, Army and CRPF participated in the operation after launching a Cordon and Search Operation (CASO) in the area.
The killing of Lamboo is considered a setback to the militancy, especially, the JeM. Since January, police and security forces have killed 86 militants across J&K. In June and July alone, they killed 36 militants in 16 encounters. Ten encounters took place in 20 days of July in which 20 militants were killed. Four of them are suspected to be from Pakistan.
Of the 86 militants killed in 36 opertions carried out by security forces and police, eighty militants were killed in Kashmir and six in Jammu. Also, half the militants killed were from Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT).
