J&K: Top JeM commander killed in Pulwama encounter

Pulwama [Jammu and Kashmir], December 26 (ANI): A top Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) commander has been killed in an ongoing encounter between the security forces and terrorists here on Tuesday.

The terrorist has been identified as Noor Mohammad Tantray alias Noor Trali, who was the top commander of JeM in south Kashmir.

The encounter, reportedly, began in Karnabal Samboora area of south Kashmir's Pulwama district between the militants and the security forces on the intervening night of Monday and Tuesday.

Noor, who is a convict in a case, had been lodged in a Delhi jail for some time in 2003. He was serving his sentence at Central Jail in Srinagar until he jumped his parole in 2015.

Consequently, he remained in Tral in south Kashmir and became a major overground worker of JeM.

In July 2017, after the Aripal encounter, where three JeM terrorists were killed, Noor went underground and soon became the key man of JeM in coordinating and organising attacks at different places.

Noor was also one of the chief architects of the Border Security Force (BSF) camp attack, near the Srinagar airport in October this year. Besides, he was wanted in a number of terror offences.

In the ongoing encounter, two more terrorists are believed to be trapped in the area.

Jammu and Kashmir Police, 110 Battalion Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and 50 RR (Rashtriya Rifles) have been deployed at the site, where the encounter is underway. (ANI)