india

Updated: Feb 18, 2019 23:25 IST

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 Central Reserve Police Force were killed when Jaish operative Adil Ahmad Dar, 22, allegedly detonated his car bomb alongside a bus carrying the troopers on a busy highway. The attack, the deadliest strike on security personnel in Kashmir, has triggered calls for retaliation against Pakistan, where Jaish founder Masood Azhar is known to be living.

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.

“The terrorist rushed out of the house and sprayed bullets in the direction where all senior officers were standing. DIG Amit Kumar was shot in the back and the bullet exited from his abdomen,” said a security official, who asked not to be named.

Identities of the other injured were not disclosed by officials.

Kumar was evacuated to the Army base hospital in Srinagar where he was operated upon. His condition is stated to be stable.

According to another official in one of the security forces deployed in the Valley, Army’s Special Operations Group reached Pinglena around midnight after a tip-off that Jaish militants were hiding in the area.

For 18 hours after that, villagers reported hearing machine gun fire and explosions as forces attempted to flush out the suspects hiding in a building.

“We heard the firing around midnight, then there was a lull through the night, but firing and blasts began again at 8 am and continued till afternoon. We were asked to stay inside homes by the soldiers,” said Abdul Qayoom, who lives close to the encounter site. A neighbour of Qayoom’s added three houses were damaged in the operation.

According to police officials who asked not to be named, Kamran was active in Pulwama and Tral area. “He was operating with Shahid Baba and Mudasir Khan, the local module heads of Jaish,” said the official.

South Kashmir’s Pulwama district is considered as one of the hotbeds for insurgency. Lethpora, where the CRPF convoy was attacked, is roughly a 30-minute drive from the village where Kamran and the others were killed on Monday.

Officials from National Investigation Agency (NIA) are leading the probe into the Thursday bombing which used explosives so powerful that much of crucial evidence — including the militant’s vehicle — has been found in small fragments.

According to an official from the agency who did not want to be named, a team from automobile manufacturer Maruti Suzuki reached Kashmir on Monday to help identify the vehicle.

NIA is likely to be officially given charge of the investigation in a notification that may be issued on Tuesday.