Body blow to Pak ultras in J&K, 12 killed in 3 days

| | Jammu
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Body blow to Pak ultras in J&K, 12 killed in 3 days

Monday, 12 April 2021 | Mohit Kandhari | Jammu

Body blow to Pak ultras in J&K, 12 killed in 3 days

Pakistan-based terrorist outfits Lashkar-e-Tayyeba, Al-Badr, and Ansar Ghazwat-ul-Hind have suffered the worst blow this year so far with the elimination of one dozen terrorists in four back-to-back encounters in the South Kashmir districts of Shopian, Pulwama and Anantnag in the last 72 hours.

Among those killed in the Shopian gunfight early Sunday morning was one of the youngest terrorists identified as Faisal Gulzar Ganai.

According to police records, he had joined the ranks of a terror outfit on Tuesday itself, the day he reportedly went missing from his home. During the encounter, the security forces and his parents tried to persuade him to surrender, but the other terrorists did not allow him to do so.  

The security forces had launched these anti-terrorist operations to neutralise terrorists and create a conducive atmosphere ahead of the beginning of the annual Amarnath pilgrimage that is scheduled to start on June 28. 

According to police, “Chief of Ansar Ghazwat-ul-Hind Imtiyaz Shah, eliminated by the security forces in Tral on Friday, was tasked with attacking the Amarnath yatra”.

Out of three outfits, Ansar Ghazwat-ul-Hind lost a maximum number of seven terrorists. Three eliminated terrorists belonged to Al-Badr and two had joined the ranks of LeT in the region. All of them were involved in attacks on security forces and intimidation of the local population. They were also working to recruit local youths in the ranks of Pakistan-based terror outfits.

Around three dozen terrorists have been gunned down this year since January 1, 2021 in 15 encounters.

In all these four encounters, security forces ensured no major collateral damage was done.  Four soldiers including an officer received splinter injuries while conducting operations inside a religious place.

Since one of the operations was carried out inside a religious place in Jan Mohalla area of Shopian, security forces were directed to exercise maximum restraint to protect the sanctity of the place. 

In the first two operations, seven terrorists were killed between Thursday and Friday. Two more operations were launched late Saturday evening in which one terrorist was eliminated in Shopian. Four others, including those two responsible for the killing of Territorial Army jawan Mohd Saleem Akhoon, were eliminated during ongoing operations in Shopian and Semthan area of Bijbehara in Anantnag on Sunday.

Patting the back of officers of the counter-terrorism grid in the region, Director General of Police Dilbagh said, twelve militants, belonging to Ansar Gazwat-ul-Hind (AGuH), Al-Badr and Lashker-e-Toiba outfits, were killed by the security forces in Kashmir within the last 72 hours.

Singh said out of these 12 terrorists seven belonged to AGuH including the outfit’s chief, while three were from Al-Badr and two were affiliated with LeT/TRF. The two from LeT/TRF were “hardcore local terrorists” and involved in the killing of a TA soldier at Bijbehara Anantnag on April 9.

Singh said the duo was “active for long and wanted in many cases”.

The DGP further said that with the killing of seven AGuH terrorists at Tral and Shopian, the outfit has been “fully eliminated”. 

In a separate statement a police spokesman said, “on a specific input generated by Shopian Police regarding presence of terrorists in orchards of Reban Bandpawa area of Shopian, a joint cordon and search operation was launched by Police, 34RR  and 178Bn CRPF around 5.00 pm on Saturday”

“During the search operation, as the presence of terrorists got ascertained they were given an opportunity to surrender, however they fired indiscriminately upon the joint search party which was retaliated leading to an encounter. In the initial retaliatory firing, one terrorist was killed, but the operation was suspended to give the trapped terrorists another chance to surrender”, the police spokesman said.

The joint teams exercised maximum restraint and facilitated the presence of family members of a holed up terrorist Faisal Gulzar to the encounter site so as to persuade him to surrender. However, despite repeated appeals by his family members and assurances by the security forces, the other terrorists didn’t allow him to surrender. Ultimately in the wee hours, during the fierce gunfight both the trapped terrorists were killed and bodies of all the three killed terrorists were recovered from the site of encounter.

They have been identified as Aasif Ahmad Ganai and Faisal Gulzar Ganai both the residents of Chitragam Kalan. However, the identity of the 3rd killed terrorist is being ascertained. As per police records, they were part of groups involved in many terror crime cases and linked with proscribed terror outfit Al-Badr.

The second operation also started around the same time after confirming the information regarding presence of terrorists in a residential house at village Semthan area of Bijbehara, Anantnag.

“During the search operation, as the presence of terrorists got ascertained they were given an opportunity to surrender, however they fired indiscriminately upon the joint search party which was retaliated leading to an encounter. The joint teams also rescued all the civilians trapped in the gunfire and halted the operation for the night”, the police spokesman said.

In the wee hours, after ensuring all the civilians were safe, the operation was resumed and both the terrorists were eliminated in the ensuing encounter. They have been identified as Towseef Ahmad Bhat son of Mohammad Ramzan resident of Takia Maqbool Shah Bijbehara and Aamir Hussain Ganie son of Ab Rashid resident of Goriwan Bijbehara, Anantnag linked with proscribed terror outfit LeT.

As per police records, “Terrorist Towseef was active since 2017 and Aamir had joined terrorist ranks in the year 2018. Both of them were wanted in many terror crimes including the killing of an off-duty Territorial Army soldier Mohammad Saleem Akhoon who was killed by them near his home in Goriwan Bijbehara on Friday. They were also wanted by law in Case FIR No. 07/2020 of PS Bijbehara regarding the attack on a CRPF party in which one CRPF jawan had got killed. They were also involved in threatening and intimidating the civilian population of the area and enticing the young boys to join terror ranks”.

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