Major successes for security forces: DGP
Pak not happy with peace: GOC
Excelsior Correspondent
Srinagar June 8: Four militants including a district commander of Hizbul Mujahideen were killed in an encounter with security forces in Pinjura village of South Kashmir’s Shopian district today while as three soldiers were also injured in exchange of fire.
Inspector General of Police Kashmir, Vijay Kumar told Excelsior that a joint team of Police, Army’s 44 RR and CRPF launched a cordon and search operation on specific information about the presence of militants in the area.
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He said that security forces were fired upon by militants during the searches of the area by the hiding militants which was retaliated and it led to an encounter. Four militants were killed in the encounter and their bodies were retrieved.
They have been identified as Umer Dhobi of Pinjura Shopian, Rayees Khan of Vehil Shopian, Saqlain Amin of Reben Shopian and Wakeel Ahmad Naikoo of Rakpora Kapran Shopian. Umar was district commander of HM and was one of the most wanted militants in the area.
The IGP said that his killing is a major success for the security forces.
It may be mentioned here that five militants including a top Hizb commander were killed in an encounter at Reban Shopian on Sunday.
The internet services were snapped in Shopian and Kulgam districts of South Kashmir.
The IGP said that Police and Army in a joint operation recovered huge cache of arms and ammunition from Keran area of Kupwara today. The arms and ammunition recovered include 5 AK rifles, 15 AK magazines, 443 AK rounds, 2 UBGLs, 57 UBGL grenades, six 9 mm pistols, 12 9 mm pistol magazines and 77 rounds of 9 mm pistols, 15 hand grenades and 2 AK slings.
In the meantime, security forces today apprehended an Over Ground Worker (OGW) of militants at Kralhar in district Baramulla.
Security forces comprising SOG Baramulla, 52 RR of Army and 53 Batallion of CRPF and laid a check point at Kralhar in Baramulla after reports about the movement of OGWs in the area.
One person moving on black Honda Activa was apprehended by security forces. He was identified as Irfan Ahmad Wani son of Ghulam Nabi of Shatlu in Baramulla district.
One pistol was recovered from his possession. Police has registered case in this regard.
And in the meantime, Director General of Police Dilbag Singh today said at least 22 militants, including 6 top commanders, were killed in last two weeks in nine different operations.
Addressing a press conference, Singh said that among killed militants there were three top commanders against whom several cases were registered including the killing of innocent civilians, attacks on police and security forces.
He said that police also arrested those who were readying new boys to join militancy in Awantipura.
Three youngsters were rescued from the militants and have been handed over to their families after counselling. “In the last two weeks, nine big operations were conducted in which 22 including 6 top commanders were killed,” he added.
The DGP said that three militants who were trying to infiltrate were killed in Nowshera sector in Jammu. “Another recently infiltrated militant was killed in Kalakote sector. This shows that Pakistan and its agencies are trying to infiltrate militants from all sides,” he said.
“An IED attack was averted on May 28. Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) and HM militants were trying to attack security forces with IED but alert forces foiled their attempt. 150 kilogram IED recovered on May 28 can cause harm like Lethpora. We killed Abdul Rehman alias Fauji Bhai who was affiliated with HM and IED maker was also killed,” the DGP added.
Eight militants who have been killed this year in around 36 operations and 40 militant associates were arrested besides 240 Over Ground Workers (OGWs). “Many of them have also been booked even some under PSA,” he said.
Regarding the threat of IED attacks, the DGP said border grid has to stay alert. “There are reports that JeM militants on instructions of Pakistani agencies are developing IED. We have alerted all our forces”.
He also revealed that it is for the first time that militant launching pads were active during winter. “First militant group infiltrated in Keran sector on March 31. They tried to infiltrate but alert security forces killed them,” he said.
On the number of militants at launch pads along the Line of Control (LoC), DGP said: “As per our assessment the number could be around 150-250 for Kashmir region and 125-150 for Jammu region.”
He added said local militant recruitment is very low this year and most of them have already been killed.
“2018-19 was very successful year on counter-militancy operations front,” he said.
He also clarified that there is no such report of Taliban’s hand in the Valley. As of now, Pakistani militants are infiltrating to Jammu and Kashmir under the banner of Lashkar-e-Toiba and JeM. “Now they named an organisation called TRF. Most of the people in TRF are from Lashkar-e-Toiba and JeM. Pakistan army is involved in a big away apart from the ISI. Pakistan army is manning the launching pads”, he said.
“There is no militant in Ramban, one is in Doda and three are in Kishtwar. They have very less weapons. There were attempts to drop ammunition through drones but there have been no reports of a successful drop,” he said.
And Army said that over the past few months it has been working extremely hard with the Police to develop leads to trace and kill militants in various parts of Kashmir, especially South Kashmir.
Addressing a press conference at Army’s Awantipore headquarters, General officer Commanding (GoC) Victor Force, Major General A Sengupta said that over the last few months, the Army has been working extremely hard with the Police to develop various information leads to “neutralize militants who have been disrupting the normal life of population here.”
He said these militants were coercing the population to give them shelter. “It was a congested built area and the challenge of ensuring no collateral damage remained there. Some 14 houses were evacuated. At 7 am, contact was established with the militants and after night hours of fierce battle, they were killed successfully,” the GoC Victor Force said. “There was no damage to civilian property, he added”
General officer Commanding (GoC) of Srinagar-based Army’s 15 Corps, Lieutenant General B S Raju said that he congratulates the teams of Army and the police besides CRPF for doing the excelling job by killing nine militants in the past 24 hours.
“This we have been able to do because of the professionalism of all agencies involved. The tactics used by the troops on ground are to ensure operations are conducted in a very professional manner,” he said.
He said that both the operations were conducted in an areas where there was a fair amount of civilian population and where civilians were evacuated. “I would like to give the credit to local population for facilitating smooth anti-militancy operations,” the GoC 15 Corps said.
Replying to a query, he said that if there is one person, who is not happy with the peace returning to Kashmir that is “Pakistan.” “It is Pakistan’s larger game plan to keep the pot boiling in Kashmir. That is how the relevance of Pakistan army remains within Pakistan. As far Pakistan’s contribution is concerned in Kashmir, it’s a combination of two things-on physical front inducting weapons along the LoC and second is information warfare Pakistan intends to fight,” the GoC said.
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