“Yes, he (Abu Musaib) was Lakhvi’s nephew. He was his brother’s son,” IGP (Kashmir) Javid Mujataba Gilani instructed The Indian Express. “He had been active in the Valley since August 2015.”
Vikramjit Singh, commanding officer of 13 Rashtriya Rifles, stated: “Based on specific intelligence inputs, a joint operation was conducted by 13 RR, J&K Police and CRPF in Hajin. In this operation, one heavily armed foreign terrorist was eliminated. The slain terrorist has been identified as Abu Musaib, top LeT commander from Bandipore district.”
Police sources stated Musaib, together with different Lashkar-e-Toiba militants, had infiltrated into the Valley in August 2015 and had been working in Bandipore district. Police stated he entered the Valley via the Gurez sector.
The Lashkar’s then Valley chief and Udhampur assault mastermind Qasim had gone to Bandipore to obtain Musaib and his associates. But Qasim needed to return to his south Kashmir base after a short encounter with a police crew that was following him — in that incident, J&Okay Police misplaced its high counter-insurgency officer, Altaf Ahmad, higher often known as Altaf Laptop. The Lashkar then despatched one other native militant to obtain the group and transfer them to south Kashmir however he was killed in an encounter in Bandipore earlier than he may meet the infiltrating group.
The group then stationed itself in Bandipore and operated in Hajin and surrounding areas. A senior police officer stated Musaib was the Lashkar divisional commander. He was stated to have been the mastermind of an assault on the CRPF at Nowhatta in Srinagar wherein a commandant was killed.
