STATE TIMES NEWS
Srinagar: Six Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) terrorists, including two Pakistani nationals involved in the December 13 attack on a police bus on the outskirts of the city, were killed in twin encounters in south Kashmir that also left an Army jawan was martyred, officials said on Thursday.
While three terrorists were killed in an overnight encounter in Anantnag, three others were killed in the gunfight which took place in Kulgam district on Wednesday evening, the officials said.
Two jawans and a police personnel were injured during the Anantnag operation, they said.
Below 200 terrorists active in Kashmir now
Srinagar: For the first time since insurgency broke out in Kashmir, the total number of terrorists active in the valley has fallen below 200 and the recruitment of youngsters by terror outfits has also been kept in check, top security officials said on Thursday.
Addressing a press conference in the Qazigund area of Anantnag district in south Kashmir, Inspector General of Police (IGP), Kashmir, Vijay Kumar and General Officer Commanding (GoC) of the Army’s 15 Corps Lieutenant General D P Pandey said the security situation has improved in the valley.
“Majority of the operations conducted this year were based on human intelligence,” Lt Gen. Pandey said, adding that the number of active terrorists in the valley has come down to 180. Giving further details, Kumar said this is the first time since insurgency broke out that the total number of active terrorists across Kashmir has fallen below the 200-mark.
“It is also for the first time that the number of local terrorists is below 100 — at 85 or 86,” he said.
Kumar said 128 youngsters have joined the terror ranks so far this year, of whom 73 have been killed in encounters and 16 arrested.
Lt Gen. Pandey said compared to the last two years, the recruitment of youngsters by terror outfits was down in 2021.
“Last year, it was more than 180. It shows that there is an awakening in the civil society. People have realised the futility of taking up violence. They understand what is happening across (the border).
“We should look at it positively. The civil population is helping us neutralise the terrorists and also enabling us to break the cycle of violence…. I am sure we will see greater peace and a lesser number of youngsters coming out to join the terror ranks in the next year or so,” he said.
The GoC said those aged above 20-21 years are not falling prey to the terror outfits’ plans and thus, the latter have started recruiting boys aged 15-16 years.
“Also, the second trend which is coming out is that they (youngsters) are no longer proud of themselves picking up weapons, so they are not declaring their names. Whosoever is joining is hiding his identity,” he added.
“It was very clear and evident during a recent operation, which came into spotlight for various reasons, that all the family members belonging to the OGW network or the local terrorists came out in the open and claimed innocence.
“Today, I feel the society does not want to accept OGWs (overground workers) and terrorists into their houses or in the proximity,” Lt Gen. Pandey said, apparently referring to a recent encounter in Hyderpora, in which the families of the three victims claimed that the slain men were innocent.
Asked about the increase in the number of foreign terrorists killed in encounters, the GoC said the local terrorists are now refusing to carry out operations.
“That is another challenge that they (terror outfits) are facing and therefore, Pakistani terrorists are now coming to the fore to lead operations. As they will emerge from the heights, from the cover and carry out the operations, they will be neutralised,” he added.
Kumar said the foreign terrorists were on the higher ridges of the mountains in the summer months but as the winter has arrived, they have come down to the plains.
“So, a foreign terrorist is killed in almost every encounter, which is good for us,” he said.
On a question about the situation along the Line of Control (LoC), Lt Gen. Pandey said it is absolutely fine and the ceasefire is being honoured.
“People are going about their routine activities, they are pretty happy on either side of the LoC,” he said.
The GoC, however, said the terror launchpads across the border continue to be full and there are inputs of attempts to cross over to the Indian side in the winter as well. “But I can assure you that we are fully ready for any such eventuality to ensure that no infiltration takes place. If any does take place, we will be neutralising them the way the operations are being conducted in the hinterland,” he said.
The GoC said infiltration “will happen”, but “it has been controlled”.
“This year, the infiltration numbers are far lesser compared to the previous years,” he added.
The encounters took place after the forces launched cordon and search operations in Nowgam Shahabad area in Anantnag district, and Mirhama area of Kulgam both in south Kashmir after specific inputs about the presence of terrorists in these areas on Wednesday evening.
In the last about five days, security forces have carried out multiple operations across the valley resulting in 11 hardcore terrorists being neutralised, killed. On Wednesday night, in two separate operations, six terrorists, including two Pakistani terrorists, of JeM cadre have been neutralised in Kulgam and Anantnag, General officer Commanding of the Army’s 15 Corps, Lt Gen D P Pandey said.
He was addressing a joint press conference along with Inspector General of Police (IGP) Kashmir, Vijay Kumar, at Qazigund in south Kashmir’s Anantnag district.
The GoC said during the operation, Sepoy Jasbir Singh lost his life.
As the operation was being conducted in very heavily built up area, while evacuating civilians from harm’s way, we had two Army personnel and one JKP personnel suffering gunshot wounds. They are all stable as of now, he said.
The IGP Kashmir said the JeM group was involved in the December 13 attack on a police bus in Zewan area on the outskirts of the city here in which three policemen were martyred. After the Zewan attack, I had shared with you that JeM carried out the attack. Security forces personnel will be happy to know that this is the same group which carried out the attack in which three policemen were martyred, he said.
Kumar identified the three terrorists behind the attack as Suhail Ahmad Rather, resident of Zaffran Colony, Peer Altaf Hussain alias Mufti Altaf, resident of Nathipora Dooru, and a Pakistani national Sultan, alias Rayees.
Rayees was active in south Kashmir since 2017. His aim was to inflict heavy casualty on the forces. Although, our forces had retaliated heavily (in Zewan), but still three were martyred. We had promised to neutralise this group before the end of the year, Kumar said.
He said so far this month, 24 terrorists, including five Pakistani nationals, have been killed.
Two US-made M-4 Carbine rifles, 15 AK-47, two dozen pistols and some grenade and IEDs have been recovered. This proves that Pakistan wants to foment trouble here, he said.
The IGP said security forces have delivered a huge setback to JeM this year by killing its number one and number two.
However, he said, the outfit is still planning attacks on forces and there is a danger of IED blasts.
But, police and security forces are on alert. Our intelligence network is fully alert and we will give a befitting reply to it, he added.
He said if Pakistan claims the bodies of the foreign JeM terrorists, police is ready to give back the bodies.
According to a police spokesperson, based on specific input generated by Police regarding presence of terrorists in Mirhama area, a joint cordon and search operation was launched by Police, 9RR and 18BN CRPF in the said area.
During the search operation, as the presence of terrorists got ascertained, they fired indiscriminately upon the joint search party which was retaliated leading to an encounter. In the ensuing encounter, three terrorists of proscribed terror outfit JeM were got killed and their bodies were retrieved from the site of encounter. They have been identified as Shahid @Shahzaid resident of Pakistan (a foreign terrorist), Mohammad Shafi Dar resident of Tral and Uzair Ahmad resident of Mirhama.
As per police records, the killed foreign terrorist Shahid listed among the top most wanted terrorists operating in J&K while as the other two killed terrorists were also categorized terrorists linked with proscribed terror outfit JeM. As per police records, the killed terrorists were part of a group involved in several terror crime cases including attacks on security forces and civilian atrocities.