Pulwama encounter: Security forces hunt down banker-turned-terrorist after hours of gunbattle

Srinagar: A terrorist was killed in an encounter with security forces in Awantipora area in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district on Friday, police said.

Security forces launched a cordon and search operation in the Banderpora-Rinzipora area of Awantipora on Friday morning following information about the presence of terrorists there, a police official said.

The official said the search operation turned into an encounter after the terrorists fired on the search party of the forces, who retaliated.

In the ensuing gunfight, one terrorist was killed, the official said.

The terrorist has been identified as Ishfaq Ahmad Wani, a local resident of Koil village of Pulwama district who joined terror outfit Hizbul Mujahideen in July.

Ishfaq's father was a terror commander from Pulwama and was killed in 1996. Twenty-five-year-old Ishfaq, a post graduate in Business Administration, was as a fruit businessman before he joined the terror ranks.

He joined ICICI Bank after completing his MBA in 2015; however, he left it after a year and started his own fruit business. His last Facebook posts were in praise of Jihad. He posted, "Those who fight in Jihad have the right to the spoils of the conquered or Paradise if he dies”.

Ishfaq is survived by mother, stepfather(uncle), three brothers and one sister. Among his three brothers, one of them works in the police department. 

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