Major setback for Hizb
Lt Umer’s killing avenged; four civilians killed

Ahmed Ali Fayyaz
JAMMU: Hizbul Mujahideen has suffered a major setback as 12 to 13 of its local cadres have been killed by Police and security forces in three separate gunbattles in South Kashmir even as three soldiers and four civilians also got killed on Sunday. This is the highest toll on a single day in the last several years in Jammu and Kashmir as 20-plus fatal casualties have taken place only in the fidayeen attack on a military installation at Uri on September 18, 2016.
Authoritative sources told STATE TIMES that all the three operations of the day at Brenti Dyalgam in Anantnag district and Dragad and Kachhdora in Shopian district of South Kashmir were the result of specific information regarding presence and movement of different terrorist groups. Even as thousands of residents engaged the Police and security forces in fierce clashes in their desperate attempts to fail the operation and help the holed up terrorists escape at Kachdora, troops used unmanned aerial vehicles to ensure that none of the terrorists made good his escape.
Sources said that over a credible tip off, Police, Army and CRPF carried out a cordon-and-search operation at Brenti Dyalgam in Anantnag district. During the operation, SSP Anantnag called the family members of the Hizbul Mujahideen terrorist Rauf Ahmad Khanday of Dehruna Hillad, Dooru, and with their help made sustained attempts to motivate him for surrender. However, Khanday did not respond positively to the appeals made by his family members. Consequently, he got killed in encounter.
Khanday’s accomplice Imran Rashid came out and he was captured alive by security forces. Later, a multitude of residents attended Khanday’s funeral prayers amid anti-India, pro-Pakistan and pro-Azadi slogans.
In Shopian district, Police and security forces swooped down on a cluster of houses at Dragad sometime after midnight. According to a specific information available with the Police and security forces, a group of seven local cadres of Hizbul Mujahideen was present at the house of Inamul Haq, a 2013-batch IPS officer who is posted as SP in an another state.
During the operation, all the seven militants came out and made unsuccessful attempts to escape. They were all killed in the seven-hour-long encounter. Body of one of the house owner’s son, Mushtaq Ahmad Thokar, was also recovered from the same site of encounter. Officials maintained that the civilian got killed in the cross-firing.
The terrorists killed in the fierce gunfight were identified as Zubair Turray alias Chhota Geelani of Shopian, Adil Ahmad Thokar of Humhona, Rayees Thokar of Padderpora, Ashfaq Ahmad Malik of Pinjora, Obaid Shafi Malla of Trenz, Nazim Ahmad Dar of Nagbal and Yawar Ahmad Itoo of Safanagri, Shopian.
According to GOC 15 Corps, Lt Gen A.K. Bhatt and other Army officers, at least two of the slain terrorists were involved in kidnapping and killing of Lt Umer Fayaz in May last year.
The third encounter of the day took place at Kachhdora, Shopian, where thousands of the residents gathered and made sustained attempts to fail the operation with slogans and stone pelting and thus help the holed up militants escape. However, the troops put their foot down and while dealing with the violent demonstrators on one side, maintained the offensive on a group of five holed up terrorists. One civilian, namely Zubair Ahmad Bhat of Gopalpora was critically injured in the clashes. Later, he succumbed to injuries when he was being shifted to a Srinagar hospital in an ambulance.
In the subsequent clashes, two more civilians, namely Merajuddin Mir of Okay Kulgam and Mohammad Iqbal Bhat of Khasipora Shopian also got killed. Residents claimed that over 100 demonstrators sustained injuries as many of them were hit by bullets and pellets. Around 20 of the injured were rushed to Srinagar and admitted at two hospitals.
Sources said that during the operation at Kachhdora, Rashtriya Rifles 44 battalion lost three of its soldiers. They were identified as Sepoy Hetram, Grenadier Nilesh Singh and Grenadier Arvinder Kumar.
Senior Police officials confirmed death of four terrorists but maintained that the search was underway for yet another terrorist who was believed to be dead. They said that Police and security forces recovered three bodies of terrorists and later a crowd recovered one more body. Residents insisted that the crowd also recovered two terrorists alive under the debris. They were reportedly injured but taken away for medical treatment to an unknown destination. However, the Police and the Army officers dismissed such claims as “rumours”.
Three of the four Hizbul Mujahideen terrorists killed in the encounter at Kachhdora Shopian were identified as Ashfaq Ahmad Thokar of Padderpora, Aitmaad of Amshipora and Samir Ahmad Lone of Hillow, Shopian.
According to reports from Shopian, Police and security forces had called off the operation at Kachhdora but were looking for the body of an unidentified terrorists who was believed to be the fifth casualty

. Troops were also looking for the two injured terrorists who were believed to have been taken away by the residents.
The DGP also made a special mention of SSP’s efforts to convince a terrorist to surrender during the Dialgam encounter.
“I would like to make a special mention about the Dialgam encounter where our Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) made a special effort, which is unheard of in any part of the world.”
“He called the family members of one of the terrorists. They spoke with him for 30 minutes, to convince him to surrender,” the officer said.
“Unfortunately, he did not heed the advice of his family. During the talks, the district SSP tried to get him over. Instead he fired on the police leaving them with no option other than to retaliate. He was killed. The other one was caught alive,” he said.
On the operations at Kachehdora, the DGP said there was information about the presence of four to five terrorists, but “we will be able to give a clear picture only after the debris is cleared”.
One civilian death was reported from Draggad and the other at Kachehdora, both in Shopian district, the police chief said.
Violence broke out at the Kachehdora encounter site in which 25 civilians received pellet injuries while six others suffered bullet injuries, the police chief said.
The DGP said that all the seven terrorists killed in the Draggad encounter were locals and their bodies have been claimed by their families.
Inspector General of CRPF Zulfikar Hassan pointed out that people came in large numbers at the encounter site in Shopian.
“The operations will not stop and we will have to take all offensive measures in case they do not refrain from throwing stones at the jawans engaged in the counter-insurgency operations,” he said.

Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti expressed grief over the death of civilians during security operations in Anantnag and Shopian districts on Sunday.
“She also sympathised with those injured during these operations,” an official spokesman said. He said the chief minister also paid tributes to the three Army jawans, killed in these operations.
She conveyed her sympathies with the bereaved families and prayed for peace to the departed souls, he added.
National Conference working President Omar Abdullah, while condoling the death of civilians, questioned the Chief Minister’s absence from the state. “So while all this was unfolding the Chief Minister didn’t see (it) fit to cut short her Delhi trip. What was so important to have kept her there?” Omar tweeted.