Ahead of the beginning of the annual Amarnath yatra, a joint team of security forces on Friday gunned down three terrorists including one of the most wanted IED experts of Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) terror outfit in Nagnad area of South Kashmir's Kulgam district.
The slain terrorist, identified by the police as a Pakistani national Waleed, was eliminated by the soldiers of 9 Rashtriya Rifles in a close combat while he was attempting to flee along with the civilians.
So far, 14 terrorists have been neutralised in seven counter terrorist operations in the month of July 2020.
According to intelligence inputs, “one of the most wanted terrorists killed in the operation was tasked by their handlers in Pakistan to target the Amarnath yatra this year along the Jammu-Srinagar National Highway”.
Sharing details of the successful operation, Sector Commander 9 Rashtriya Rifles, Brigadier VS Thakur told media personnel in South Kashmir’s Kulgam district, “Army has also received credible inputs that terrorists are intending to target Amarnath Yatra somewhere along the Jammu-Srinagar National highway”. He, however, assured the pilgrims,”Army is fully ready to foil any misadventure by these terrorists for smooth conduct of Amarnath pilgrimage.
Interestingly, Shri Amarnath Shrine Board authorities are yet to formally announce the final date of start of the yatra this year. The proposed date of launch of the yatra was July 21.
In Srinagar, Inspector General of Police, Kashmir range, Vijay Kumar told reporters, the slain terrorist killed in the operation figured in the list of 12 most wanted commanders. He said, so far two of them have been gunned down and now 10 others are left. We are working round the clock to track down their whereabouts before launching operations.
Sharing details of the joint operation,Brigadier VS Thakur told reporters, “soon after receiving the credible inputs from the Deputy Inspector General of Police, South Kashmir about the presence of two to three terrorists hiding in the area a siege was laid at around 4:30 am in the morning in Nagnad area of Kulgam”.
He said the operation was full of challenges. “The first challenge was that there was a single road access to the house where these terrorists were hiding and the closest base was 10 to 12 km’s away”.
He said that the second challenge was the safety of civilians of the house where terrorists had taken refuge.
“Our troops showed restraint and didn’t even resort to speculative fire at the target house,” he said. He said as part of the standard operating procedure, an appeal was made to the civilians to evacuate the house.
“Two terrorists fired indiscriminately upon the forces with small arms and also lobbed grenades with an Under Barrel Grenade Launcher (UBGL),” Brigadier Thakur said, adding that both were killed without causing any harm to civilians or the house they were hiding in.
He said when civilians were coming out, one remaining terrorist who was wearing a pheran (traditional Kashmiri gown) with a weapon inside, tried to move out with the civilians.
“He was physically stopped and when he tried to use his weapon, there was a hand to hand fight between him and a soldier of 9 RR, who successfully shot the terrorist down.He said, in the milee three army personnel also received injuries and were rushed to the nearby hospital, where they were undergoing treatment and were stated to be stable.
According to Brigadier VS Thakur, a huge quantity of arms and ammunition was recovered from the three slain terrorists which included a US made M-4 Carbine, one Ak-47, five magazines, a few grenades and a UBGL.
Brigadier Thakur said that the three terrorists were possibly involved in the killing of five migrant Bengali labourers on October 29 last year in Kulgam, when an EU delegation was on a Kashmir visit. “They were also involved in the killing of four civilians on April 4 this year at Nandimarg, Kulgam,” he said, adding that they were also luring youth towards militancy.
Commenting on the strength of the local terrorists active in the South Kashmir area, Brigadier VS Thakur said there are almost 100 active militants in south Kashmir that include 25 to 30 foreigners as well.