Villagers stand on the rubble of a house after it was damaged during a gunbattle between terrorists and security forces in Hakripora in Pulwama district.

Majid Jahangir

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, August 1

Lashkar-e-Toiba chief Abu Dujana, recently named the second-in-command of the Zakir Musa-led outfit with Al-Qaeda links, was killed in a surgical operation in south Kashmir’s Pulwama district early this morning.   Married seven months ago, the “most-wanted” terrorist was killed at his in-laws’ house while visiting his wife. Dujana’s aide, a local man, was killed too. (Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd)As the gunbattle raged, locals, mostly youngsters, marched to the encounter site and hurled stones at the security forces. They were fired upon. One person, identified as Firdous Ahmad of Begumbagh, Kakapora, was killed and several others were injured. The protests spread to other parts of the Valley, including Srinagar, leaving several injured. Thereafter, educational institutions across Kashmir were closed for the day and mobile Internet services suspended. The operation was jointly launched by the Army, police and CRPF in the wee hours at Hakripora Pulwama, 25 km from Srinagar. “The Army and the CRPF cordoned off 10 to 12 houses at about 4 am. We zeroed in on a house and spoke to the owner. We learnt that terrorists were not allowing members of the family to come out. After a couple of hours, all  came out and that is the time we launched an operation at 8 am. Within a couple of hours, two terrorists were killed,” the GOC of Army’s 15 Corps, Lt Gen JS Sandhu, said.“Those killed are Abu Dujana, the LeT chief in Kashmir and an A plus terrorist, and Arif Nabi Dar, also a terrorist,” he said. Dujana had escaped the police dragnet more than 12 times earlier, officials claimed.Police chief SP Vaid called the killings a huge success. He said Dujana, who belonged to Gilgit-Baltistan, had been active in Kashmir for six years. He had masterminded several fidayeen attacks  on security forces along the Srinagar-Anantnag highway in the last two years. Kashmir IGP Muneer Khan claimed Dujana had “become a ‘nuisance’ for everyone, specially the girls.”