Without causing any major damage to the religious place in South Kashmir district of Shopian, the joint team of security forces on Friday eliminated two more terrorists in Jan Mohalla area while chief commander of Alqaeda-linked Ansar Ghazwat-ul-Hind along with his associate were neutralised in a separate encounter at Nowbugh, Tral in Pulwama district,taking the total tally of terrorists killed in the last 24 hours to seven.
Four soldiers including one army officer received injuries in the overnight gunfight.
Earlier three terrorists were killed in Jan Mohalla on Thursday evening.
All these terrorists had taken shelter inside a local mosque forcing the security forces to exercise maximum restraint while neutralising them in Jan Mohalla area.
Religious leaders and family members including parents were taken inside the mosque to pacify the terrorists to lay down their arms but they refused to obey.
Briefing the media about two separate gunfights, IGP Kashmir Vijay Kumar said that in two different encounters one at Jan Mohalla, Shopian and another at Nowbugh, Tral in Pulwama district, seven terrorists including AGH chief Imtiyaz Shah, who was active since April 2019, was killed.
“In Shopian operation we had to be very patient. We followed all SoPs. We allowed the Moulvi of the local masjid in which terrorists were hiding, to persuade terrorists to surrender twice in the night. We also brought the brother of a terrorist. His request for surrender was also turned down. We brought the parents of terrorists in the morning, but terrorists refused to surrender,” the IGP said, adding that in the Shopian gunfight no IED, no explosives and grenades were used. “We used tear smoke shells. In the ensuing gunfight, five terrorists were killed—two from Hizbul Mujahideen, one from LeT and two from AGH. All were categorized terrorists.”
He said that two terrorists including the AGH chief Imtiyaz Shah had fled from the Shopian encounter site during the initial cordon after throwing grenades. “We developed the lead and found that the duo had fled to Nowbugh area of Tral. Today, early morning a cordon was launched in an open area where Imtiyaz along with his aide were killed,” he said. From of the seven slain terrorists, the IGP said seven AK-rifles and two pistols were recovered. He said that in the Shopian operation sanctity of the masjid was maintained and the place of worship suffered minimum damage.
The IGP identified the slain terrorists of Shopian as Muzamil Tantary who had joined militancy in August 2019, Adil Lone who picked up arms in July 2019, Younish Ahmed Khanday, who joined terrorists ranks in November last year and Basit Bhat who picked up gun in June last year. He said the fifth terrorist has not been identified yet. Similarly, the IGP said one of the slain terrorists of Tral gunfight was identified as Imtiyaz Shah, the chief of AGH, who was active since April 2019, and was tasked to target Amarnath Yatra in the Tral area. The identity of Imtiyaz’s aide is being ascertained.