Rajouri (Jammu and Kashmir): The killing of two Pakistani terrorists, including top commander of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) Qari, by the security forces has extinguished Islamabad’s evil design to ignite an atmosphere of fear in Rajouri and adjoining districts of Jammu and Kashmir.
The two were possibly trying to carry out terror activities in the twin districts of Rajouri and Poonch, which is a mountainous region bordering Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir, according to officials.
In the recent days, they were seen by locals moving around in the mountains and the information was passed on to the police and Indian Army.
“Since last few days, there were continuous inputs of movement of two terrorists in general Area Kalakot (Rajouri) and all the intelligence agencies were working relentlessly to eliminate them,” an official said today.
On the night of November 19, a confirmed input was received regarding a “high-ranked terrorist” of LeT namely ‘Qari’ who was active in Rajouri-Poonch area along with one accomplice.
Immediately coordinated joint operations were launched by the Indian Army, Jammu and Kashmir police and intelligence agencies in the general area of Kabokot, he said.
On November 22, at around 8.30 in the morning, one more input was received about these two terrorists being in the general area of Kalokot.
The troops commenced searches in the dense forest where the presence of the terrorists was expected, the official said, adding there were ‘dhoks’ (hutments of nomads) with some civilians staying in.
During the searches, the terrorists opened fire from their hiding places.
Sensing danger to the lives of innocent women and children, an officer of the Indian Army came out of his cover to pin down the terrorists, thus averting imminent danger to the civilians, the official said.
However, while saving the residents, the officer was hit by a stray volley of fire and made the supreme sacrifice, he added.
The terrorists tried to take advantage of the thick undergrowth, large boulders and inhospitable terrain to run away.
But the security forces used heavy gunfire to thwart the plans of the terrorists to escape, the official said.
The troops tried to close in on the hiding terrorists but in the process, three of them suffered fatal casualties, he said.
The troops continued to unleash heavy fire on the terrorists and one of them was hit.
The gunfight continued through the day and as darkness approached, more troops were rushed in to strengthen the cordon of the entire area to prevent the terrorists from fleeing, the official said.
Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), night-enabled cameras and other modern equipment were deployed to keep the area under surveillance through the night.
Search operations resumed at dawn the next day (yesterday) and led to recovery of body of one terrorist who had been eliminated the previous day, the official said.
“Further operations to neutralize the second terrorist, who was attempting to break the cordon led to resumption of fire fight at 7.40 AM,” he said.
In the ensuing operations, another soldier sustained fatal gunshot injury, the official said.
The total number of casualties among the Army was 5.
Finally, by around 1.30 PM, the second terrorist was also eliminated, he said.
Qari was one of the most wanted terrorists, having been trained in Pakistan & Afghanistan, the official said.
An IED expert and trained Sniper, Qari was the mastermind of civilian killings at Dhangri in Rajouri in January this year and the attack on security forces in Kandi, the official said.
A large amount of weapons, ammunition, war-like stores have been recovered from these terrorists, he said.
“The operation has been successful owing to the seamless synergy between Police, Army and other security agencies operating in the area,” the official said.
