Another fake encounter in J&K, slain Lashkar 'terrorist' a Hindu civilian

A man gunned down by the army and the Jammu and Kashmir Police, who claimed he was a Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) commander, has been identified as a mentally unstable civilian, army sources said on Monday.

Security personnel on Sunday carried out a joint operation in a forested area of Poonch district, some 220km north of Jammu, and identified the victim as Abu Usman, a divisional commander of the LeT.

However, a post-mortem identification revealed that the victim was a mentally-challenged Hindu civilian, army sources said.

“A soldier of the Territorial Army and Special Operation Group of the police had supplied wrong information to us, on the basis of which it was claimed that a terrorist has been killed in the encounter,” a spokesperson of 16 corps of the Indian Army told IANS.

He said that the two security personnel have been detained. “A court of inquiry has been instituted,” the spokesperson added.