A day after his arrest, top Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) commander Nadeem Abrar and a Pakistani national were killed in an encounter in Parimpora area of the city, police said on Tuesday.
Giving details of the incident, a police spokesman said Abrar -- a top commander of LeT involved in many killings -- was arrested during checking of vehicles at Parimpora on Monday and put on sustained interrogation.
The LeT commander disclosed the location where he had kept his AK-47 rifle in Maloora locality, the spokesman said.
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There was a specific input about terrorists carrying an attack on highways. Keeping in view the seriousness of the input, a few joint check-posts of JK Police and CRPF were placed along the highway, he said.
"On Parimpora naka (checkpost), a vehicle was stopped and their identity was asked. The person sitting at the back seat tried to open his bag and took out a grenade. The police party swiftly swung into action and grabbed the person sitting at the back seat. Both the driver and the person sitting at the back seat were taken into police custody. After taking off his mask, it was identified that he was terrorist Abrar, a top LeT commander," the spokesman said.
He said a pistol and some hand grenades were recovered from Abrar's possession.
From there, Abrar was taken to the house to recover the weapon (AK 47 rifle) after cordoning off the suspect's house, the spokesman said, adding that the party was entering the house when one of his associates, Pakistani terrorist hiding inside the premises, fired at the party.
In the initial round of fire, 3 CRPF personnel were injured and Abrar accompanying the search party also got wounded, the spokesman said.
The force was strengthened and they retaliated with heavy firing, he said.
"In the ensuing gunfire, the foreign terrorist who fired from inside the house got neutralised and Abrar also got killed. Two AK-47 rifles along with ammunition were recovered from the site," he added.
The spokesman said Abrar was involved in several killings of security force personnel.