Abu Dujana was asked to surrender but he refused: Rashtriya Rifles CO

Pulwama (Jammu and Kashmir) [India] August 3 (ANI): Commanding Officer of 55 Rashtriya Rifles (RR), Kamal Nauriyal, who led Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terrorist Abu Dujana encounter, said that when the latter was asked to surrender, he adamantly refused to do so. "On July 31 night we got the input that Dujana is taking shelter in a house in Pulawama's Hakripura village. Therefore, it was easy for our team to plan this operation and we tracked his movement and got success. The owner of the house requested the company commander on duty to rescue them as Dujana was not letting them out of the house. The company commander then talked to Dujana through the house owner and asked him to surrender himself to which Dujana refused," Nauriyal told ANI. He further said that jointly with the Pulwama Police they launched the operation where they took help of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF). "The CRPF did a commendable job in controlling law and order. The conversation between the house owner and the company commander indicates that public has trust in the Armed forces. The commander told Dujana that he is just merely a puppet in this whole act to which he responded very meekly and agreed with the fact," Nauriyal added. Meanwhile yesterday, the separatists in Kashmir called for 'bandh' to protest the killing of two LeT terrorists and a civilian on Tuesday. The civilian was killed in protest that erupted following an encounter in which LeT terrorist Abu Dujana and Arif were gunned down by security forces. Separatists Syed Ali Geelani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Muhammad Yasin Malik have jointly called for 'Bandh'. They have also appealed people to offer funeral prayers in absentia after Zuhr prayers for slain militants and civilian. As a precautionary measure to avoid any untoward incident, the authorities have imposed restrictions under Section 144 of CrPC under the jurisdiction of five police stations- Nowhatta, MR Gunj, Rainawari, Khanyar and Safakadal- of district Srinagar. In a major breakthrough, LeT chief commander Abu Dujana of Pakistan along with his accomplice Arif were killed in an encounter with security forces at Hakripora village in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district on Tuesday morning. Dujana was one of the most wanted terrorists and carried over Rs 15 lakh bounty on his head. On July 19, Dujana and two of his associates gave the slip to security forces in Pulwama district. According to media reports, the trio exchanged fire with the armed forces and managed to flee from the spot. The Indian Army in July released a list of 12 most-wanted terrorists operating in the Kashmir Valley and Dujana was among them. (ANI)