SRINAGAR — Sameer Ahmad Dar, who was thought to have been gunned down in a July 31 encounter along with Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) commander Mohammad Ismail Alvi alias Lambu, is alive and bolstering the militant outfit’s activities in the Valley, according to people in the Indian security establishment.
According to a report in Hindustan Times, the second militant who was killed with Lambu in July encounter was a Pakistani national, who is yet to be identified.
The operation was a result of a coordinated strike by the counter-insurgency Victor Force, headed by Major General Rashim Bali, in the Nagberan-Tarsar forest area of Pulwama, the report added.
Lambu, who is a relative of JeM chief Maulana Masood Azhar, is from Bahawalpur in Pakistan and was one of the main perpetrators of the February 14, 2019 Pulwama attack.
He was killed in the encounter in July this year.
The report said that the other person was identified as Sameer Dar, 22, a local from Pulwama. Dar had joined JeM in 2018.
However, when security agencies later showed the body to his family, it was confirmed the second militant was not Dar. On closer examination, his photos, too, did not match the body, one of the people said.