Mohammed Yousuf Dar, a resident of Chak area in Kawoosa Budgam, who was one of the oldest surviving militants of Lashkar e Taiba and known for his “disguises” has been killed in the encounter that raged in Baramulla’s Pariswani area.
Officials said an operation was launched last night in Pariswani- the village adjacent to Budgam and Baramulla after receiving input from Budgam police about militant presence in the area.
The Budgam police and the local army unit conducted the anti-militancy operation and firing continued intermittently during the night.
In the first firefight, three soldiers and a civilian were slightly injured.
During the following exchange of gunfire, two militants including Yousuf Kantroo were killed, while three more are believed to be trapped.
Known as Isseh Kantur, he was believed to have escaped from cordoned areas over a dozen times in the last 5 years and figured in Army’s “most wanted List” several times.
The Police say that Yousuf was Lashkar’s “operational head, mastermind, planner and a main recruiter from Budgam”, and operated mostly in Budgam, which is centrally located between Srinagar, Pulwama and Baramulla.
According to official records, Yousuf an A ++ category militant was a “recycled militant”. An official told The Kashmiriyat that Kantroo, had joined militancy in 2012 and again in 2015. “Yousuf recruited several youth into the militant ranks and many more worked as over-ground workers for him,” he said.
Though security agencies received inputs about Yousuf several times, but he managed to escape every time, till today. “He was a master at disguises and hardly trusted anyone,” the official said.
The official said that Yousuf was involved in several militancy-related charges including civilian killings, attacks on Government forces, killing of SPOs. “He was involved in the recent killing of a cop & his brother in Budgam district,” he said.
Among the several crimes he was involved in, he was also held responsible for the killing of Tariq Ahmad Malik, 38, a forest guard post in the Zandpal village of Tangmarg area in Baramulla.
“In March, Yousuf Kantroo masterminded the killing of an Army soldier Sameer Ahmad Malla of Khag Budgam,” he told The Kashmiriyat.
The Jammu Kashmir police termed the killing of Yousuf a “big success” for the Government forces.
He said Yosuf’s killing, barely four months after the killing of another top commander Salim Parray bring down the morale of militants operating in central and north Kashmir.