Islamic State terrorist, involved in killing of police inspector, gunned down in J&K’s Anantnag

A terrorist affiliated with the regional Islamic State (IS) unit was gunned down by a joint force of the Indian Army and Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) police on Sunday morning in the Anantnag district, officials said.

Vijay Kumar, the inspector-general (IGP) of Kashmir Zone police, said the terrorist has been identified as Faheem Bhat, who recently joined the Islamic State of Jammu and Kashmir (ISJK).

The ISJK is an affiliate outfit of the IS active in Jammu and Kashmir as part of its broader Khorasan (Islamic State – Khorasan Province or IS-K) branch in South Asia and Central Asia.

“Neutralised #terrorist identified as Faheem Bhat of Kadipora #Anantnag,” tweeted Kashmir Zone Police on Sunday morning, following the encounter. “He has recently joined #terror outfit ISJK and was involved in killing of Martyr ASI Mohd Ashraf, who was posted at PS Bijbehara.”

Officials of the Kashmir police said Faheem Bhat was involved in the killing of an on-duty assistant sub-inspector (ASI) Mohammad Ashraf Dar on December 22 outside the Bijbehara police station.

The ISJK terrorist was killed after an encounter broke out between the security forces and the terrorists in the K Kalan of Srigufwara in J&K’s Anantnag district on Saturday night.

On Saturday, two Ansar Gazwat uL Hind (AuGH) and two Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terrorists were killed in two separate encounters.

According to the Combating Terrorism Centre at West Point, one of the causes of concern associated with the spread of the ISJK in J&K is the existing instability within the region that provokes such transnational terrorist outfits to infuse the Kashmiri jihad with pan-Islamist ideology.