Terrorist Naveed Jatt, who allegedly killed Shujaat Bukhari, had trained with Ajmal Kasab: Reports

Pakistan-born Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) commander Naveed Jatt, was killed in an encounter in Jammu and Kashmir's Budgam district on Wednesday, was an associate of 26/11 terrorist Ajmal Kasab, according to reports. Jatt, wanted in connection with the assassination of Rising Kashmir editor Shujaat Bukhari had escaped from custody in February.

Three army personnel were injured in the encounter that claimed the life of "most wanted" Jatt.

"As per ground verification, the chief commander of Lashkar-e-Taiba in the valley (Naveed Jatt) has been killed in the operation at Budgam which started last night and ended this morning," Director General of Police (DGP) Dilbagh Singh said

Jatt, who was arrested in 2014, had told police that he had trained with Kasab, the lone gunman captured alive after the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack. Kasab was hanged in 2012.

Other than Bukhari’s killing, Jatt was also wanted for his complicity in a series of terror crimes, including attacks on security establishments and many other civilian atrocities, the police said.

The militant had undergone intensive training and was good at handling equipment like compasses, GPS, wireless sets and mobile phones installed with the Skype software, an official told news agency PTI.

Dilbagh Singh said Jatt's killing, along with one of his associates, was a big success for the security forces.

"You have seen recently in south Kashmir, youths were picked up on various pretexts, branding them as informers, and shot dead or slaughtered," the DGP said.

"There were bank robberies and police personnel were targeted. People must have heaved a sigh of relief at his killing," he said.

Singh added that Jatt had also played an important role in motivating many people to join militancy. Singh said it was extremely difficult to track down Jatt as he had escaped from the security forces' clutches more than once in the past.

"Even today, there were rumours that he has managed to escape but this time he was not lucky," he said.

Asked about Jatt's involvement in Bukhari's killing in June this year, Singh said the LeT commander was one of the suspects in the case.

"Such evidence about the involvement of the militant can be corroborated if you catch him alive. But it was difficult to catch him alive," he said.

"If he had been caught alive, we would have perhaps got more leads to corroborate as to what kind of involvement he had. Now we can say that the prime suspect has been neutralised," he added.

(With PTI inputs)