The Online Portal Editor Turned Terrorist Rayees Was Killed

The online portal editor turned terrorist Rayees Ahmed was killed in an encounter with a partner: Srinagar Encounter.

Two terrorists were killed by security forces in an encounter that took place after midnight on Tuesday in the Rainawari area of ​​Down-Town.

Weapons and other paraphernalia were also recovered from the encounter site. Police officials said that both the slain terrorists are locals.

Among them, one of the terrorists, Rayees Ahmed Bhat, son of Abdul Hameed Bhat, resident of Shahbad Veeri Bijbehara, was earlier a journalist.

He had been the chief editor of Valley News Service, an online portal operating in the Valley, before joining the terror outfit in August 2021.

Police said Rayees suddenly went missing in August last year. When his family members lodged a missing report with the police, the police started his investigation.

It was learned that Rayees had joined the terrorist organization Lashkar-e-Taiba. Two cases are also registered against him in different police stations. We had included him in category C terrorists.

At the same time, the second terrorist killed in the encounter has been identified as Hilal Ahmed Raah alias Shabu son of Safir Ahmed Raha resident of Bijbehara.

He too went missing from home in October last year and had joined the Lashkar-e-Taiba terror outfit. He was also kept in the C category by the police in the list of terrorists.

Police said that they had received information about the hiding of terrorists in Rainawari only late in the night.

In the middle of the night, when the security forces were moving forward while searching, the terrorists hiding in one place started firing.

Police officials said that when they came to know that Rayees and Hilal were among the terrorists present in Rainawari.

Police gave many opportunities to both of them to lay down their arms, for this they also took the help of relatives, but they answered them every appeal by firing. Police were forced to fire in retaliation.

The encounter started at 12.45 pm and lasted for about an hour and both the terrorists were killed. Bodies of both the terrorists riddled with bullets have also been found.

In the morning, the security forces launched a search operation in the area.

When it was confirmed that no other terrorists were present in the area, the security forces left with the bodies of the terrorists and the weapons recovered from the encounter site.