Fayaz Bukhari
Srinagar, June 19: Security forces today achieved a major success against Hizbul Mujahideen militant outfit by killing its three militants including divisional commander for South Kashmir in a fierce gun battle at village Buchoo in Tral area.
Deputy Inspector General of Police, South Kashmir Range, Vijay Kumar who was supervising the operation at village Buchoo told Excelsior that killing of three HM militants is a major success for the security forces as it has broken the back of the outfit in South Kashmir.
Giving details of the operation, Kumar said that gun battle started at around 6 p.m. in Buchoo village of Tral in which three Hizb militants who were trying to flee from the cordon during the operation were killed by troops.
The DIG said that the operation was launched on a tip off by the security forces including Special Operations Group (SOG) of Jammu and Kashmir Police Awantipore, 3 Rashtriya Rifles (RR) of Army and Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) in village Buchoo Tral.
Kumar said that the militants tried to flee from the village and were spotted by the troops who fired at them leading to a gun battle in which three militants were killed and two Army personnel were injured. He said that the two Army personnel received minor injuries and their condition is stable.
The DIG identified the killed militants as Adil Ahmad Shah son of Abdul Ahad Shah resident of Ratsuna Tral, Adil Ahmad Mir son of Bashir Ahmad Mir resident of Dadsura Tral and Tariq Ahmad Parray son of Ghulam Mohammad Parray resident of Laribal Tral.
Kumar said that Shah was divisional commander of the HM for South Kashmir. “He was active since 2008 and was involved in the killing of 4 Army personnel in Buchoo village in Tral last year. He was involved in the snatching of four rifles from a minority picket at village Arigam in Tral last year. He was also involved in the killing of Sarpanch Anwar Sheikh Alwar at Amlar Tral in April this year and had fired at and injured a Sarpanch, Qtuabdin in Tral in 2012”, he added.
The DIG said that Adil Mir was active since 2010 and was involved in various militancy related incidents in Tral area. “Tariq was doing Post Graduation from University of Kashmir and had joined militancy last year. He was earlier working as Over Ground Worker (OGW) for the HM”, he added.
Kumar said that operation went off smoothly and there was no damage to the property in the village.
A statement issued by Defence spokesman said here that Army said that Army and police this evening launched an operation based on a specific intelligence input regarding presence of two to three militants in village Buchoo, Tral of Pulwama district.
“While the initial cordon was being laid around the suspected group of houses, the terrorist hiding in one of the houses opened heavy volume of fire on the troops and tried to escape. However, troops reacted swiftly and established an effective cordon and prevented any escape by the terrorists. Thereafter, a fierce gun battle ensued between the security forces and terrorists which lasted for more than an hour. Troops responded in a calibrated manner to avoid any collateral damage. At about 7 p.m. the security forces were able to successfully eliminate three terrorists and recovered large quantity of arms and ammunition from the slain terrorists”, the spokesman added.
The spokesman said that Corps Commander Chinar Corps, Lt Gen Gurmit Singh commended the troops and the commander on ground for executing a swift and surgical operation culminating into elimination of three top militants.
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