Ajmal Kasab’s associate, Naveed Jatt killed in Kashmir   

In a major success for security forces, top Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) militant Naveed Jatt (21) allegedly involved in the killing of veteran journalist Syed Shujaat Bukhari was shot dead along with another militant in a pre-dawn fire-fight at a village in central Kashmir's Budgam district on Wednesday.

Three soldiers also suffered injuries during the gun battle, according to the police. Two residential houses, according to the official, belonging to Ashiq Hussain and Abdul Majeed were also got damaged in the encounter.

Jatt, according to police, along with his two associates was involved in the killing of Shujaat Bukhari, editor of the Rising Kashmir, and his two personal security guards near his office at Press Enclave, Srinagar on June 14.

Last week Azad Ahmad Malik alias Dada, another accused in the Bukhari's assassination was killed by the security forces in Satkipora area of district Anantnag.

A police official said that on a specific tip off, mixed columns of army, police and Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) ring-fenced a cluster of residential houses in Kuthipora, Chattergam villge and began a search operation. As the searches were on, militants hiding themselves in a residential house opened fire on the forces, he said, adding that the forces retaliated at full throttle, leading to a fierce encounter.

Director General of Police Dilbagh Singh told a press conference at Srinagar that Pakistan would be asked through a competent authority to claim the body of their national. "We'll be writing to the ministry of home affairs to informing Pakistan to take the body," Singh said, adding, “Naveed Jatt had earlier managed to give them the slip in six different encounters but the forces finally managed to pin him down on Wednesday.

Who was Naveed Jatt

Jatt, A +++ militant, who used Hanzulla as nom-de-gurerre, was a resident of Multan, Pakistan. Jatt had infiltrated into Kashmir in 2012 and before his arrest in 2014 from district Kulgam in South Kashmir, he was elevated to the rank of a district commander.

Involved in several murders, Jatt was lodged first in Kathua sub jail and then in Central Jail Jammu. Before his arrest in 2014, Jutt was active in South Kashmir for two years. According to sources, Jatt was very keen to learn Urdu language when in prison. "He spoke only Punjabi but was showing a significant interest in learning Urdu from jail inmates."

Jatt, son of a truck driver, was just 3 when his family enrolled him in a LeT camp in Pakistan, they added. According to police, he was part of the group of Ajmal Kasab, who was hanged for his involvement in Mumbai attacks, at a Madrassa in Pakistan where he had undergone arms training. He is also said to be close to Lashkar chief Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, the mastermind of the 26/11 Mumbai and was due to be appointed as LeT’s chief in Kashmir.

“He had a long history of crime records since 2012 in Kashmir. He was involved in killing of an ASI in Pulwama on May 2013, series of grenade attacks on security forces and was involved in killing of CRPF personnel at Awneera Shopian in August 2013,” said a police spokesman.

Besides, he was also involved in conspiring and executing several bank robberies and attacks in South Kashmir including attack on Court Complex Pulwama on March 2014 in which two policemen were killed, attack on polling party in Shopian on April 2014 in which several civilians sustained injuries and one presiding officer, Zai-ul-Haq Wani, was killed, and attack on a police party at Bongam, Shopian in June 2014 in which several civilians and policemen were injured.

The five-feet tall militant had escaped from police custody in Srinagar on February 6, about four months before Shujaat’s killing. He had been taken from the Srinagar Central Jail to Shri Maharaja Hari Singh Hospital for a check-up when gunmen broke him out, killing two policemen.

Soon after his escape, his videos emerged on social media, showing him exchanging hugs with some Hibzul Mujahideen militants at funeral processions of the slain militants.