180 militants killed in Valley this year: DGP
Excelsior Correspondent
Srinagar, Oct 12: Two militants including a Lashkar-e-Toiba commander were killed in Barzulla area of Srinagar this morning as Srinagar woke up to heavy firing this morning.
Inspector General of Police (IGP) Kashmir zone Vijay Kumar told Excelsior that on a specific input of Srinagar Police regarding presence of militants in Rambagh area of Srinagar, a joint cordon and search operation was launched by Srinagar Police and CRPF in the area.
He said that during the search operation, as the presence of militants was ascertained they were given opportunity to surrender after evacuating all civilians. “However, they fired indiscriminately upon the joint search party which was retaliated leading to an encounter in which two militants were killed”, he said.
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One among them has been identified as top LeT commander Saifullah, a Pakistani national, while as second was identified as Irshad Ahmed Dar alias Abu Usama of Pulwama who was active since May 2019 and involved in killings of civilians and attacks on security forces.
The IGP said that Saifullah infiltrated into Kashmir earlier this year and since two months shifted his base from North to South Kashmir. He was involved in planning and executing several major attacks on security forces which includes killing of a CRPF officer at Chadoora last month and two CRPF personnel at Kandizal area of Pampore last week. He was also part of the group involved in killing of two police personnel at Nowgam Srinagar in August this year. “He was also involved in firing on convey last month in Nowgam area” he added.
He said incriminating materials including arms and ammunition were recovered from the site of encounter. “All the recovered materials have been taken into case records for further investigation and to probe their complicity in other terror crimes”, he added.
The dead bodies were sent to Baramulla for their last rites after medico-legal formalities including collection of their DNA.
Addressing a press conference at Police Control Room Srinagar, DGP of Jammu and Kashmir Police Dilbag Singh said that the killing of Lashkar commander is big success for security forces.
He said that this year so far 75 anti-militancy operations were conducted in which 180 militants have been killed. “Today’s operation was a successful one. All the operations against militants conducted this year were clean and conducted in a professional manner,” he said.
He said that barring one operation at Batamaloo Srinagar, in which one woman was killed in a cross fire, all operations were cleanly conducted by the security forces.
Asked whether Lashkar and other militants are trying to set their foot again in Srinagar city, the DGP said that this year eight gun battles took place in the city in which 18 militants including a top Hizbul Mujahideen commander were killed. “Whenever any militant outfit tries establish its base in Srinagar, we successfully corner the militant with the help of our intelligence and other sources,” he said.
On how many militants are active in Srinagar, the DGP said at present only one militant is active in the city who is involved in a couple of attacks. “We will bring him to justice very soon,” he said.
About how many security forces personnel were killed this year, the DGP said police lost its 19 men and CRPF 21. “Army lost 15 soldiers and majority of them were killed on the LoC,” the DGP said.
Singh said that with the help of parents and hard work of police, 26 youth who had joined militancy were reunited with their families.
Asked whether police was sending the youth who shun militancy to outside J&K, the DGP said no youth has been sent out of the UT. On whether there was any rehabilitation policy for the youth who quit militancy, he said: “Officially there is no policy as yet. When there would be one, details will be shared.”
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