A group of five terrorists led by a top commander of pro-Pakistan Hizbul Mujahideen terror outfit was eliminated in a successful operation by the joint teams of security forces in the Reban area of Shopian on Sunday.
Since January 2020, the security forces have killed over 90 terrorists, including several top commanders, in anti-terrorist operations.
During the intense gunfight, which continued for several hours during the day, the security forces eliminated all the hiding terrorists without suffering any collateral damage. However, two houses in the area were completely destroyed.
Incidents of stone pelting were also reported in the area to prevent the security forces from carrying out anti-terror operations.
At the same time, local police officers were seen making announcements from loud speakers warning people against stepping out of their homes to disrupt the anti-terrorist operations.
An A++ category terrorist, Farooq Ahmed Bhat alias Nali, hailing from Yaripora in kulgam is believed to have been killed in the encounter. However, a police spokesman claimed they were still ascertaining the identity of the terrorists.
Official sources said Farooq Bhat was trapped by the security forces along with a group of four other local Hizbul Mujahideen terrorists early Sunday morning. The HM commander had earlier managed to give slip to the security forces during cordon and search operations.
The operations in the area were launched on the basis of a specific intelligence input developed by the Jammu and Kashmir police about the presence of one of the top commanders in the area.
Police spokesman in a statement said, “On a specific input generated by Shopian Police, a joint cordon and search operation was launched by Shopian police, 1 RR and 178 Bn CRPF in Reban area of district Shopian on Sunday morning”.
During the search operation, the hiding terrorists fired on the joint search party. The fire was retaliated leading to an encounter.
“In the ensuing encounter, 05 terrorists were killed and their bodies have been retrieved from the site of encounter. The identification and affiliation of the killed terrorists is being ascertained. However, as per credible sources the killed terrorists belonged to proscribed HM terrorist outfit and one among the killed terrorists is believed to be a top commander”.
Since all the killed terrorists were locals from Kashmir valley, police spokesman said, “In case any family claims the killed terrorists to be their kith or kin can come forward for the identification”.