In a major breakthrough, Jammu and Kashmir Police killed a top commander of Hizbul Mujahideen in a fierce gunbattle. The Hizb’s financial chief, Farooq Ahmad Dar, was killed in south Kashmir’s Tral town. The killing of its financial chief is a big blow to the state’s largest indigenous militant outfit that has lost several of its top commanders in the past month. “His killing is a big blow to the Hizb,” said Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of Police for South Kashmir, Hemant Kumar Lohia. “He was active since the last seven to eight years”.On Sunday afternoon, the police, accompanied by the personnel of Central Reserve Police Force, cordoned off Noorpora village in Tral. The cordon, police sources said, was laid after police got specific information that Dar and one of his associates were hiding in the village.As the joint party of J-K Police and CRPF were zeroing-in on the target house – that of Firdous Ahmad — they came under militant fire. The police asked the militants to surrender. The militants, on the other hand, continued to fire at the Security Forces. As the joint party retaliated, both Dar and his associate were killed, after a fierce gunfight that continued for several hours. Police said they didn’t receive any injury during the encounter. However, the house, in which the militants were hiding, was destroyed.Police said Dar, who was a resident of the same village, was wanted in several cases and was responsible for the car bomb blast outside Burn Hall School in Srinagar that killed an Army officer and injured several soldiers.
