SRINAGAR — The mastermind of the 14 February Pulwama terror attack, in which 40 CRPF personnel had died, has been killed in an encounter in south Kashmir’s Tral area, officials said on Monday.
Two militants were killed in the encounter in Tral’s Pinglish area and the Pulwama attack’s main conspirator, Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) terrorist Mudasir Ahmed Khan, was one of them, they said.
Khan was the main conspirator of the attack on the Central Reserve Police Force convoy in Pulwama, Lt General Kanwal Jeet Singh Dhillon, General Officer Commanding, XV Corps, said.
“Mudasir Ahmed Khan alias ‘Mohd Bhai’ was among the two militants killed in the encounter in Tral’s Pinglish area in Pulwama district,” CRPF Inspector General (Operations) in Jammu and Kashmir, Zulfiqar Hasan, said at a hurriedly called joint press conference by the Army, state police and the paramilitary force.
However, he refused to term this as avenging the death of 14 February terror strike.“We are peace keepers and we ensure that no one raises gun against the country,” the officer said.
Inspector General of Police, Kashmir Range, Swayam Prakash Pani, said the actual identity of the second militant has not been ascertained as of now. “We know that his code was Khalid. We are trying to find his actual identity,” he said.
The killing of Khan is a significant dent to the JeM, he said.