Nine killed in Pulwama gunfight
18-HOUR OP Army major, 3 Jaish militants dead in encounter 15km from site of Feb 14 attack
SRINAGAR: Security forces killed on Monday three Jaish-e-Mohammad militants during a gun battle in south Kashmir’s Pulwama district, including a top commander of the terror outfit who is believed to have played a crucial role in last week’s attack on a paramilitary convoy that killed 40 troopers.
Four army personnel, one of them a major, a policeman, and a civilian were also killed while a group of senior security officials, including south Kashmir’s deputy inspector general of police and an Indian Army brigadier, was wounded during the nearly 18-hour operation in Pinglena village. A police spokesperson said one of the militants killed was Kamran, a Pakistani citizen who is believed to have entered India last year and who took over as Jaish’s operational commander in March, 2018. Of the three, two were Pakistanis while the third, a Pinglena resident.
“Kamran was responsible for recruiting people to terror outfits... His role in the recent terror attack on CRPF at Lethpora is being probed as well,” a police spokesperson said.
On Thursday, 40 men of the CRPF were killed when Jaish operative Adil Ahmad Dar detonated his car bomb alongside a bus carrying the troopers on a busy highway.
Monday’s developments took the total number of lives lost by Indian security forces since the February 14 attack to 46. The recent casualties include major VS Dhoundiyal, havaldar Sheo Ram, sepoy Ajay Kumar and sepoy Hari Singh — all part of the 55 Rashtriya Rifles that began the operation to nab the militants on Sunday night. South Kashmir deputy inspector general of Police Amit Kumar, a brigadier from Rashtriya Rifles, an army captain and two soldiers received gunshot injuries when one of the militants came out of a house set on fire by the security forces and opened fire.