Wanted Hizb terrorist among 4 killed in J&K
JAMMU/SRINAGAR: Three Hizbul Mujahideen terrorists and a soldier were killed on Saturday in the first major gun battle in Jammu & Kashmir since the Centre on August 5 moved to divest the state of its special status by nullifying Article 370 of the Constitution and bifurcate it into two Union territories. A fourth terrorist died in a separate shootout in the Valley.
A BJP worker, Vijay Kumar Verma, who had been taken hostage by the terrorists in Batote, about 110 kilometres from Jammu , and his family were rescued by security forces during the course of the protracted gunbattle. At around 1 pm on Friday, the militants entered a house in Batote and took a BJP worker hostage, said defence spokesman Lt Col Devender Anand.
“On Saturday morning, at about 7.30 am, two to three suspicious men in army fatigues tried to stop a bus in Batote on NH 244. The bus driver was alert and sped away. He did not stop the
A SOLDIER WAS ALSO KILLED AND TWO COPS WERE INJURED IN THE RAMBAN GUNFIGHT
vehicle and informed the nearest army check post. A quick reaction team reacted promptly and chased the men, who then entered the house of the BJP worker,” he added. Before entering the house, the terrorists, who were armed with AK assault rifles, under-barrel grenade launchers and grenades, fired indiscriminately.
In the subsequent, all three terrorists were neutralised and a soldier died while two policemen were injured, said Jammu IG Mukesh Singh. Heavy rain made the operation difficult.
”The house owner, Vijay Kumar Verma, was rescued while seven other family members were evacuated to safety earlier in the process after they managed to come out,” a police spokesman said.
The three slain terrorists were identified as Osama, Haroon and Zahid of Doda region. The soldier who died was identified as Naik Rajinder Singh of Jaisalmer in Rajasthan.
Osama was accused in the killings of senior BJP leader Anil Parihar and his brother Ajit Parihar on November 1, 2018, and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) functionary Chanderkant Sharma and his personal security officer on April 9, officials told news agency PTI.
He was also wanted in three weapon snatching incidents in Kishtwar town.
The encounter took place days after multiple intelligence agencies warned the government that at least 60 terrorists had infiltrated into Jammu & Kashmir in the last few weeks and another 500 were waiting to do so. Two days ago, national security adviser Ajit Doval asked security agencies to intensify antimilitancy operations.
The second encounter took place after the police and army soldiers launched a cordon-andsearch operation in the Khor Pathri Trunkhal area of central Kashmir’s Ganderbal, a dense forest and mountainous area. The army’s strategic Chinar Corps tweeted: “Op Trunkhal (#Ganderbal). One terrorist killed and weapon & warlike stores recovered. Operation in progress.”
Ganderbal district borders Bandipora, where militants use the Gurez route to infiltrate from across the Line of Control into the Kashmir Valley, according to police officials.
In two previous encounters in the Valley since the Centre pushed through the far-reaching changes on Kashmir’s status, a militant was killed in a shootout with security forces on August 21 in north Kashmir’s Baramulla and another on September 11 who was allegedly involved in an attack on a fruit trader’s house in Sopore in which four persons, including a minor girl, were injured.