Excelsior Correspondent
SRINAGAR, Oct 16: Security forces have killed a Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) militant and trapped its chief commander, Adil Ahmed, along with his associates in North Kashmir’s Lolab forests.
A police spokesman said here that Police and Army killed a militant in an encounter at Anderbough, Dever in Kupwara forests today. “The police along with 18 Rashtriya Rifles (RR) and 28 RR of Army launched a joint operation after receiving a specific information regarding the presence of militants. An encounter ensued in which one unidentified foreign militant was killed”, the spokesman said.
However, a Srinagar based defence spokesman identified the killed militant as Atiqur Rehman alias Khan Baba. “One AK-47 rifle was recovered from him. The operation is in progress”, the spokesman added.
Security forces for the past 5 days have been searching a vast forest area in Dever, Lolab, Tekipora in North Kashmir’s Kupwara district after they received information about the presence of a large group of around 20 militants of Jaish-e-Mohammad, Lashkar-e-Toiba and Al-Badar in the forests.
“These militants have infiltrated this summer through Macchil sector and have been spotted in the forests. The security forces had been planning a operation against them and launched it last week on October 12”, sources added.
Sources said that security forces established contact with the part of the group early today and killed one militant in the encounter so far. “Aadil Ahmed, who took over the command of Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) after the death of Qari Yasir in July this year in Garewad village of Lolab, along with his associates are believed to be trapped in the Dever forests”, sources said.
“Army’s elite commandos, Para, have been rushed to the area to take on the JeM chief and the cordon has been further strengthened”, sources said.
Sources said that Ahmed infiltrated into Kashmir early this summer. “He was operating in Lolab forests of North Kashmir between 2005 and 2007. He ex-filtrated to Pakistan in 2007 and returned early this summer”, sources said.
Sources said that last week’s major operation was launched after a general input about the militant presence in the forests.
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