LeT commander Naveed Jatt (centre) had escaped from police custody in February.Lashkar-e-Taiba commander Naveed Jatt alias Abu Hanzulla, a prime suspect in the murder of journalist Shujaat Bukhari, was killed in a gunfight in Chattergam village, on the outskirts of Srinagar, on Wednesday morning. Jatt, who hailed from Multan in Pakistan, had escaped from police custody in February this year.
Announcing his death, J&K Director General of Police (DGP) Dilbagh Singh said they would ask Pakistan to take back his body. “In this case (Bukhari's killing), he was a prime suspect… We will write to the Government of India to offer his body to Pakistan, through its competent authority,” he said.
According to J&K Police sources, Jatt, who was arrested in June 2014, had told his interrogators that he had “seen Ajmal Kasab in a madrasa run by the LeT sometime in 2006-2007”. A senior police officer said this was the first time that a Pakistani militant had admitted to knowing Kasab, the lone terrorist captured alive during the 26/11 Mumbai attack.
Big blow to Valley's Lashkar leadership
The killing of Naveed Jatt has wiped out the Lashkar's leadership in the Valley, especially in South Kashmir. Jatt was the fifth top Lashkar commander to have been killed in the last 45 days. The killings, police officers say, have drastically reduced the militant outfit's strike capability in the Valley. Before Jatt, Lashkar's Srinagar chief…
