Two LeT militants killed, 4 trapped
in Pulwama operation
Wanted
by NIA for Udhampur recce , Abu Ukasha killed; UAVs track fleeing militants, 6
villages put under cordon
Ahmed Ali Fayyaz
______
JAMMU, March 9: A cluster of six villages bordering
Awantipora and Pulwama Police districts was put under cordon after Army’s
Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) tracked four heavily armed militants fleeing
into Galbugh village following the death of two top wanted militants of
Lashkar-e-Tayyiba during a major cordon-and-search operation in South Kashmir
on Wednesday.
Authoritative sources told STATE TIMES that units of
Rashtriya Rifles 50th and 55th battalions, CRPF and
Special Operations Groups of Awantipora and Pulwama district Police launched a
major crackdown in an area between Awantipora base of the Indian Air Force
(IAF) and the Awantipora headquarters of Army’s counterinsurgent division,
Victor Force, after receiving intelligence inputs about the movement of six
hardcore militants of LeT in the afternoon.
Trapped in Wandakpora, the militants engaged the security
forces and SOG in a fierce encounter for several hours. Two militants were
killed and, according to eyewitnesses, another militant sustained critical
injuries. However, the residents gathered in large numbers and they provided a
shield to the militant while pelting stones and shouting anti-India,
pro-Pakistan and pro-Azadi slogans.
Apprehensive of collateral damage, troops called off the
operation but put in place an aerial surveillance system. Senior Defence
sources said more than one UAVs were put in place, besides other technological
support, which tracked the four militants’ passage from Wandakpora to Galbugh
village in the evening. Sniffer dogs were also employed to trace the four
militants after the security forces spotted a trail of blood from Wandakpora to
Galbugh.
Officials associated with the operation revealed to STATE
TIMES late in the night that the security forces were trying to zero in on the
houses where the four militants were believed to be holed up. However, there
was no fresh exchange of gunfire till round midnight. “We are sure to get them
all but a possible law and order problem is a major hindrance. It has become a
routine since last year that wherever we get the militants trapped, residents
create a disturbance to help them hide or escape”, said a senior official
supervising the operation.
DIG South Kashmir, Nitish Kumar, said that the two
militants killed in the encounter at Wandakpora were identified as Abu Ukasha
and Abu Zaid, both from Punjab, Pakistan. Two AK-47 rifles and quantity of
other arms and ammunition were recovered along with the two bodies.
Significantly, Ukasha was wanted by National
Investigation Agency (NIA) for having reconnoitred the areas on Srinagar-Jammu
highway, around Udhampur, headquarters of Army’s Northern Command, before a
fidayeen attack on the BSF convoy, near Samroli, on August 5, 2015. LeT
militant Naveed was captured alive even as his accomplice was shot dead in
retaliatory fire by BSF.
According to sources, Naveed later revealed to his
investigators that his LeT colleague Abu Ukasha had carried out reconnaissance
of Udhampur area before the militants travelled all the way from South Kashmir
and launched a suicide strike. Two BSF men had got killed and 10 others injured
in the attack allegedly planned by LeT’s J&K chief Abdul Rehman alias Abu
Qasim who was later killed in an encounter with security forcs in Kulgam area
of South Kashmir in December 2015.
Meanwhile, Police and security forces launched a search
operation in Khimber area on outskirts of Srinagar. They spotted and chased
away two militants. Both managed to escape, even as one of them left behind his
AK-56 rifle that was seized by Police.
END
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