Dreaded terror group Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) suffered a major setback on Tuesday after security forces gunned down its chief commander Noor Muhammad Tantray in a fierce gunfight at Sambora in Pulwama.
Security forces believe the 45-year-old militant had links with Parliament attack mastermind Gaza Baba.
Tantray took the command of the group after he and two others were released on parole in July.
The three were arrested in a 2003 case in Delhi and given a lifer by a Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA) court in 2011.
Tantry was released on parole in 2015 after being shifted to Srinagar from Tihar but he ended up joining the Jaish.
He was chosen as divisional commander of the group after which he planned and executed major attacks on security forces including the fidayeen strikes on District Police Lines Pulwama, in which eight security men, four each from CRPF and police were killed, and BSF camp adjacent to Srinagar airport.
A police spokesman said he went underground after the Aripal encounter in July in which three Jasih terrorists were killed.
“Tantray was heading the Jaish in Kashmir and was wanted in a number of terror offenses in the south and central Kashmir,” the spokesman said.
He said Tantray arranged logistics for the fidayeen who stormed the District Police Lines Pulwama on August 26. The three fidayeen were killed after a 20- hour long firefight.
Tantray was also wanted in the killing two girls, Yasmeena and Rubeena, at Seet Jagir, Tralin Pulwama on October 22, and the grenade attack on the J&K Public Works Minister Naeem Akthar a day earlier.
"Encounter going on since last evening in Awantipura district. There was input about the presence of two to three terrorists near National Highway planning to attack the convoy,'' tweeted JK DGP S.P. Vaid. ''One dead body of terrorist recovered so far, search for others going on."
