Elsewhere, Jammu and Kashmir Police detained the father of Hizbul Mujahideen chief operations commander Riyaz Naikoo and relatives of other militants for questioning in South Kashmir district of Pulwama.
Security forces dealt a major blow to Lashkar-e-Toiba on Thursday when they killed two of its top Pakistani commanders, including the chief assassin — dreaded for slitting throats with meat cleavers — in the Hajin area of North Kashmir's Bandipora district.
Elsewhere, Jammu and Kashmir Police detained the father of Hizbul Mujahideen chief operations commander Riyaz Naikoo and relatives of other militants for questioning in South Kashmir district of Pulwama.
The police said that based on credible inputs about the presence of terrorists at Par Mohalla in Hajin, a joint operation was launched by police and security forces in the early hours of Thursday.
"During the searches, terrorists fired on the search party, which was retaliated. In the ensuing encounter, two terrorists were eliminated. Huge quantity of arms and ammunition including rifles, magazines, pouches, etc along with other incriminating material was recovered from the site of the encounter," said a police spokesman.
Police said the slain terrorists were identified as Rizwan alias Jindaal and Ali alias Maaz — both Pakistani nationals of Lashkar-e-Toiba. Police said the duo was involved in several attacks on security establishments and civilian atrocities in the area.
Senior Superintendent of Police, Bandipora, Sheikh Zulfikar Azad, told DNA that Maaz was the chief assassin behind slitting of the throats of local people. "He was involved in six incidents this year. Of these, he had slit throats in four incidents and in the other two, he had opened fire. It is a big success for the security forces," he said.
Sources added that the 24-year-old Maaz was appointed commander of Hajin in November 2017 after security forces eliminated six top Pakistani commanders including Obaid — the nephew of Mumbai attack mastermind Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi and son of second-in-command of Jamat-ud-Dawa Abdul Rehman Maki.
"He was operating somewhere in North Kashmir before he was shifted to take charge of Hajin following the elimination of top militant brass last year. Since then, he has been slitting throats to instill fear among the people," said Azad.
In a separate incident, police has detained the father of Hizbul Mujahedeen chief operations commander Riyaz Naikoo for questioning. Police said Asadullah Naikoo of Beighpora in Pulwama district was being questioned "for up-grade of records."
Separatists, meanwhile, have condemned what they called the "harassment of the families".
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