Sanjha Morcha

Sunjuwan mastermind gunned down Jaish operational chief Mufti Waqas eliminated in brief encounter in Pulwama

Sunjuwan mastermind gunned down
Army men at the Sunjuwan military station. File photo

Suhail A Shah

Anantnag, March 5

The alleged mastermind of the “Sunjuwan attack” and operational commander of the Jaish-e-Mohammad in the Kashmir valley, Mufti Waqas, was today shot dead in a brief encounter with security forces in the Lethpora area of south Kashmir’s Pulwama district.Waqas had taken over the reins of the Jaish following the killing of Noor Muhammad Tantray, alias Noor Trali, in December last year.The security forces are describing Waqas as a category A++ militant, directly involved in the planning of the fidayeen attack on the Army base camp in Sunjuwan, Jammu. Nine people, including five Army men, three militants and a civilian, were killed in the February 10 attack on the Army camp.According to police reports, there were specific inputs regarding the presence of militants in a residential house in the Hatiwara area of Lethpora in Pulwama district. “A joint team of the police, Army and the CRPF was dispatched to the area. As the cordon was being laid, a militant barged out of the house firing indiscriminately to shield himself,” a senior police officer said. He said the fire was duly retaliated, briefly, before the militant was gunned down. “The militant was later identified as Mufti Waqas of the JeM,” the police officer said. Waqas was the mastermind of several attacks and was active in south Kashmir since mid-2016, the officer added. Sources in the police, meanwhile, maintained that two more militants who were probably with Waqas managed to escape. Following the encounter, as the security forces were returning to the base, heavy stone-throwing erupted in the Lethpora area along the Srinagar-Jammu national highway. Dozens of youths came on to the streets and engaged the security forces in a pitched battle. There were no reports of any injuries during the clashes. The traffic on the national highway was halted for a while though.


A++ militant 

  • Mufti Waqas had taken over the reins of the Jaish following the killing of Noor Muhammad Tantray, alias Noor Trali, in December last year.
  • The security forces are describing Waqas as a category A++ militant, directly involved in the planning of the fidayeen attack on the Army base camp in Sunjuwan, Jammu.
  • Waqas was the mastermind of several attacks and was active in south Kashmir since mid-2016