Jaish-e-Muhammad's 3-feet-tall 'deadly' commander killed in J&K encounter
Srinagar: A top Jaish-e-Muhammad (JeM) commander Noor Muhammad Tantray alias Noor Trali was killed after the security forces blew up a residential house in which he had been trapped during a cordon-and-search operation launched in Samboora, Pampore area of Jammu and Kashmir’s southern Pulwama district on Monday night.
Director General of Police, Shesh Paul Vaid, said that Noor Trali was planning a terror attack on a security forces’ convoy along the Srinagar-Jammu highway. A statement issued by the J&K police termed the JeM commander’s killing as a “significant breakthrough”.
The Army and the J&K police said that 47-year-old Noor Trali was the brain behind the JeM’s revival in Kashmir Valley and involved in a number of terror acts including the October 3, 2017 storming of a Border Security Force (BSF) base near the Srinagar airport. A BSF jawan was killed and three others and a J&K policeman were injured during the 10-hour long standoff. All the three JeM militants were also killed in the security forces’ counter attack.
A statement issued by the police here said that the search operation at Samboora near the highway town of Pampore was launched on specific input about the presence of militant commander and two others in a private house. “A fierce gun battle ensued during which Noor Trali was killed. He was a convict in a case registered in 2003 in Delhi and was serving his sentence at Central Jail Srinagar until he was released on parole in 2015. Consequently, he remained in Tral (his home town in Pulwama) and became a major over- ground worker of the JeM in the belt,” the statement said.
It added that Noor Trali went underground in July 2017 after the killing of three JeM militants during an encounter in Aripal area and “soon became the key man of JeM responsible for coordinating and organising attacks at different places”. The police further said that he was wanted also in a number of terror offences in South and Central Kashmir.
The security officials had recently termed Noor Trali as a ‘new security headache’. He was only three feet tall and had rejoined militancy after jumping parole. Ahead or during the encounter, the authorities snapped Internet services in Pulwama district whereas the rail services were suspended in entire south Kashmir.
Army’s 1 Sector deputy commander, Sanjeev Saroch, while speaking to reporters said Noor Trali’s killing was “a major blow” to the JeM and “another major success” for the security forces. He said the gunfight had erupted after the Army’s 50 Rashtriya Rifles, J&K police’s counterinsurgency Special Operations Group (SOG) and RPF laid a siege to Samboora on Monday night following inputs about the presence of three militants in area. It is not know how the other militants survived the operation.
Thousands of people attended slain militant commander’s funeral in home town Tral. A group of militants also appeared at the scene and offered gun salute to their fallen associate.
