Excelsior Correspondent
Srinagar, June 3: Security forces today killed a top commander of Jaish-e-Mohammad, an Afghan war participant and mastermind of recent car bomb attempt and his two associates in South Kashmir’s Pulwama district.
Inspector General of Police Kashmir range, Vijay Kumar today termed his killing as major success for the security forces in Kashmir. He identified the JeM commander as Adur Reham alias Fouji Bhai who was an IED expert.
“The slain commander has been identified as Abdur Rehman alias Fouji Bhai or Fouji Baba, who had participated in Afghan war and was active since 2017 in Kashmir. He was the IED expert and was the mastermind of May 28 car bomb plan which was averted on time by the police, Army and CRPF,” Kumar said. He added that the slain militant commander was from Multan, Pakistan.
It may be mentioned here that last week, the IGP told a news conference that the police will eliminate the IED expert Fauji Bhai soon.
Kumar said that the identity of two other slain militants is being ascertained and it seems that both are locals. “We have called some people to identity the slain and if they turn out to be locals, their parents will be allowed to participate in the burial at Baramulla district of North Kashmir,” he said.
However. sources identified the other two militants as Javed Ahmad Zargar of Rangmolla in district Pulwama and Manzoor Ahmad Kar of Sirnoo Pulwama.
Asked whether security forces have wiped out IED experts of Jaish outfit, the IGP said that there are two more Jaish militants who have been identified as Waleed Bhai and Lamboo Bhai, both are foreigners and have an expertise in making IEDs.
“We have also identified the Jaish chief Abdullah Rashid Gazi, who operates in Khrew area of Pulwama district and is hiding in the woods. He will be neutralized once he comes down and we can even catch him where he is hiding. It is because of our source base that we have identified the Jaish chief otherwise Jaish outfit doesn’t disclose the names of its head,” he said.
The IGP, who was flanked by Army and CRPF officers, said that it was for the first time that top militant commanders of Hizb, Lashkar and Jaish were killed. “The number of militants killed this year is 75 and majority of them were commanders”, he said.
He added that police has categorized Over Ground Workers in A, B and C categories. “Public Safety Act will be slapped on A category OGWs, B category OGWs will be arrested and C category OGWs will go through counselling and their parents will be called and then they will be released,” the IGP said.
Earlier, security forces cordoned off Kangan village of Pulwama district after specific information about presence of militants in the villages. During searches of the villages, militants fired on troops leading to a gun battle in which three militants were killed.
And Police said that based on a credible input about possession of illegal explosive materials, Anantnag police raided the residential house of Adil Maqbool Wani son of Mohammad Maqbool Wani resident of Nanil and recovered 24 kgs of illegal explosive material which was packed in polythene bags and concealed in Nylon bags.
Police said that during preliminary investigations, it was learnt that three other persons are also involved and identified as Mohammad Shahid Padder, resident of Hutmarah, Faizan Ahmad, resident of Nanil and Adnan Ahmad, resident of Chandpora, Bijbehara. All the four accused persons have been arrested and shifted to PS Mattan where they remain in custody.
A case (FIR No. 51/2020) has been registered at Police Station Mattan under relevant sections of law.
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