8 terrorists killed in overnight J&K ops

TWO ENCOUNTERS The gunfights took place in Pulwama, Shopian

nSRINAGAR: Six terrorists were killed in two separate gun battles in south Kashmir on Friday, officials said, taking the number of those killed in the overnight operations to eight.

The Indian Army said forces will try to bring back normalcy in Kashmir in the next few months, while highlighting that 102 terrorists have been killed in different operations this year.

“We have had a series of successful operations...over the last 24 hours...we got eight terrorists neutralised in two different operations,” said Lieutenant General BS Raju, corps commander of the Indian Army’s Srinagar-based 15 Corps.

The first encounter began early on Thursday in Pulwama’s Meej Pampore area with security forces launching a joint operation following inputs on the presence of militants in the area. The second operation began on Thursday afternoon in Shopian district.

Two terrorists — one each in both operations — were killed on the same day as the encounters continued throughout the night.

In Pulwama, two terrorists entered a nearby mosque. “Patience and professionalism worked. No use of firing and improvised explosive device (IED). We used tear gas shells and maintained sanctity of the mosque,” said Kashmir inspector general Vijay Kumar.

A total of three terrorists were killed in Pulwama in the past 24 hours. Five were shot dead in Shopian district.

The bodies were sent to Baramulla for conducting medicolegal formalities, including DNA collection, a police spokesperson said, adding that if relatives want to claim the bodies, they can come forward for identification and participation in last rites.

“The two operations in the last 24 hours were very clean and intelligence-based, with no col

A TOTAL OF THREE TERRORISTS WERE KILLED IN PULWAMA IN THE PAST 24 HOURS.

FIVE WERE SHOT DEAD IN SHOPIAN DISTRICT. THE BODIES WERE SENT TO BARAMULLA LATER

lateral damage,” Jammu and Kashmir director general of police (DGP) Dilbag Singh said. He added that the terrorists belonged to the Hizbul Mujahideen, a local group, and the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-taiba. Singh said new recruitments in terror groups was down drastically.

In a joint press conference, Raju said: “I would like to say that it does not give us any pleasure to neutralise these young boys, but if anybody takes up arms and causes harm to others, we will do what we are doing.”

“I am sure that in the next few months we will be able to take the peace process forward and ensure that the normalcy is brought...,” he said.

He said since the beginning of the year, forces killed 102 terrorists. “We have had just one or two civilian causalities — which means that the security forces exercised extraordinary restraint. Of the 49 new recruits who got enrolled into the ranks of terrorist tanzeems (organisations), 27 have been neutralised.’’

He said a void was taking place in top rungs of terror groups with the killing of their leaders in sustained operations.