Lashkar-E-Taiba Commander, Two More Terrorists Killed in J&K Gunfight
Sources added that the cordon-and-search operation was launched on a specific input about the presence of militants in the area
Srinagar: Three Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) cadres including a ‘top commander’ were killed in a gunfight with the security forces that took place in the woods of Jammu and Kashmir's southern Shopian district on Tuesday, the officials said here.
This was the first major clash between the militants and the security forces in the Kashmir Valley after the April 22 deadly terror attack in Baisaran meadow near the premier resort of Pahalgam in which 25 Hindu tourists and a local Muslim horse-handler were killed and which proved to be a pivotal event igniting a fresh wave of diplomatic and military tensions between India and Pakistan.
The officials identified the slain LeT ‘Operational Commander’ as Shahid Kuttay, a resident of Shopian’s Chotipora Hurpur village, and said that his name figured in the security forces’ list of ‘most wanted terrorists’.
The officials said that Kuttay who had joined militant ranks on March 8, 2023 was involved in several militancy-related incidents and terror acts including a firing incident at the district’s Danish Resort in which two German tourists and their local driver were injured on April 8, 2024, the killing of former BJP Sarpanch Aejaz Ahmed Sheikh at Hurpur on May 18, 2024 and of a Territorial Army jawan at Beigh Bagh in neighbouring Kulgam district. Following the Pahalgam terror attack, the police had demolished Kuttay’s family home at Chotipora.
Another militant killed with him has been identified as Adnan Shafi Dar, resident of Wanduna Melhora (Shopian) whereas the identity of the third slain man is being ascertained.
The police sources said the gunfight broke out after the security forces moved in the Shukroo forest area of Shopian's Keller area early Tuesday. The sources added that the cordon-and-search operation was launched on specific input about the presence of militants in the wooded area and “soon contact with terrorists was established and three of them were neutralised”".
The Army in a post on 'X' said, “On 13 May 2025, based on specific intelligence of a Rashtriya Rifles unit, about the presence of terrorists in general area Shukroo Keller, Shopian, Indian Army launched a search and destroy Operation. During the operation, terrorists opened heavy fire and fierce firefight ensued, which resulted in elimination of three hardcore terrorists. Operation is in progress.”
