SRINAGAR: A top Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) commander named Haider from Pakistan and a “hybrid” terrorist were killed on Sunday in a shootout that erupted after a combined team of J&K police, Army’s 9 Rashtriya Rifles and CRPF surrounded their hideout in the Cheyan area of Devsar in south Kashmir’s Kulgam district.

An AK-56 assault rifle with four magazines, a loaded pistol, an under barrel grenade launcher (UBGL), and LeT-issued identity cards were found where the terrorists were holed. The second slain man was Shahbaz Shah of Kulgam, a “hybrid terrorist who disguised as a civilian”. According to Kashmir range IGP Vijay Kumar, police were trailing Shah since he let loose a barrage of bullets on Satish Kumar Singh, a driver and father of three young girls, at Kakram village in Kul- gam district on April 13 this year.

The IGP said Haider, a most-wanted terrorist, was active in the north Kashmir region for two years until he shifted base to the Valley’s south recently. He had a number of murders against his name, including fatal attacks on policemen Mohammad Sultan, Fayaz Ahmad, and Zubair Ahmad between last November and this February in Bandipora.