JeM militant Noor Mohammad killed in encounter in Pulwama,J&K

A three-feet tall Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) militant known as the mastermind behind numerous attacks on security forces was killed in an overnight encounter in south Kashmir, officials said on Tuesday.Noor Mohammad Tantray was the divisional commander of the militant group in south Kashmir.

“Wanted for several terror offences Noor Mohd Tantray of JeM was killed at the Samboora encounter,” the official Twitter account of the deputy inspector general of police, south Kashmir range, posted.

Director general of state police SP Vaid said in a tweet that the encounter in Awantipora area was on since Monday evening and according to inputs the two or three trapped militants were planning to attack a security convoy on the national highway.

Forty-seven-year-old Tantray is said to be the brain behind a number of recent attacks on security forces in south Kashmir -- including that on the District Police Lines in Pulwama in August which



left eight security personnel and three militants dead.

Tantray, a resident of Tral in Pulwama district, took over as the commander of the JeM in south Kashmir recently and, according to police sources, was working for the outfit’s revival.

Reports say Tantray was arrested in Delhi in 2003 and sentenced to life by a Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA) court in 2011. He spent some time in Delhi’s Tihar jail before being shifted to Srinagar. He reportedly jumped parole around five months ago and rejoined the JeM.

An Indian Army spokesperson added that one weapon was also recovered and search operations were on.Police were still searching for other bodies at the time of filing this report.

Local media reports said that local train services through the area were suspended because of the ongoing operation and mobile internet services were also snapped in parts of the district.