The twin terror attacks this month took the list of civilian casualties in the Valley to nine in two weeks, with the withdrawal of bodies of junior commissioned officer Ajay Singh Rautela and soldier Harendra Singh from the densely forested areas of Poonch-Rajouri. Where the encounter with the terrorists is going on for six days.
As the army’s casualties in the Jammu operation rose to nine, security forces fighting terrorists in the Valley claimed a major breakthrough in the gunning down of Lashkar-e-Taiba commander Umar Mushtaq Khande, who was killed by 10 in Jammu and Kashmir. He is counted among the most wanted terrorists. With a colleague at Drangal Pampore in Pulwama.
Police said Arbind Kumar Sah, a 30-year-old pani puri vendor in Idgah area of Srinagar, was shot by terrorists from point-blank range around 7 pm. Another pani puri vendor from Bihar, Virendra Paswan, was killed by Pakistan-backed outfit TRF at Lal Bazar in the old city on October 5.
Terrorists mortally injured migrant carpenter Sagir Ahmed at Litter’s basti in Pulwama, about 40 km from Srinagar. Sagir, who worked in a saw mill in the area, died in the hospital. Victims in the targeted civilian killings since October 2 include prominent Kashmiri Pandit businessman Makhan Lal Bindru, Kashmiri Sikh school principal Supinder Kaur and her Kashmiri Pandit colleague Deepak Chand. According to police figures, 28 civilians have been killed by terrorists this year.
NC Vice President Omar Abdullah tweeted that the two civilian killings during the day “are a grim reminder of the precarious security situation in Kashmir these days”.
“The perpetrators of these heinous attacks will be punished soon. We have stepped up our efforts to crush the terrorists and their ecosystem. They will have to pay a very heavy price for killing innocent civilians. I would like to speak in one voice to the people. And urge to join hands. Fight against terrorism,” said Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha.
The Pampore encounter in which Lashkar Commander was killed along with Khande’s aide Shahid Khurshid, two terrorists responsible for the killing of a government employee and a police officer were gunned down in encounters with security forces in Pulwama and Srinagar respectively. IGP (Kashmir range) Vijay Kumar said Khande had killed police constables Mohammad Yousuf and Suhail Ahmed in Baghat in Srinagar on February 19, apart from masterminding several other terror attacks.
Amid civilian killings, reminiscent of the terrorist trigger behind the exodus of Kashmiri Pandits in the 1990s, security forces have killed 13 terrorists in nine cordon and search operations in the Valley in the past two weeks.
However, the Poonch offensive to flush out suspected terrorists from Pakistan has been interrupted from the area, allowing the infiltrators to retreat deeper into the dense forest. Jammu-based defense spokesperson Lt Col Devendra Anand said, “On October 14, following a fierce exchange of fire with terrorists, communication with Subedar Ajay Singh (Rautela) and Naik Harendra Singh was disrupted. Their bodies were found in Nar Khas forest of Mendhar today. were found.” said.
The other JCOs to be killed in action during the ongoing operation were Subedar Ajay and Naik Ajay from Tehri and Lansdowne districts of Uttarakhand respectively. Two seriously injured soldiers – Riflemen Vikram Singh Negi and Yogmber Singh – were martyred on Thursday after “exemplary courage, devotion and making supreme sacrifice in the line of duty”, an army statement said.
Five Army personnel – Naib Subedar Jaswinder Singh, Naik Mandeep Singh and Sepoys Gajan Singh, Saraj Singh and Vaishakh H – were martyred while fighting terrorists within the first few hours of the encounter at Surankote in the border district of Poonch on last Monday.
Watch Terrorists kill two non-Kashmiris in Srinagar
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