Srinagar- Three Jaish-e-Muhammad (JeM) militants, including a Pakistani national were killed on Wednesday in a firefight with government forces in south Kashmir’s Pulwama district, police said.
Mir Owais of Ashmander village of Pulwama and a Pakistani national Talha Yasir besides another Jaish militant, believed to be a foreigner, were killed by the joint team of police, army’s 55RR and the personnel of CRPF 182 battalion, in an encounter in Chandgam village of the district on Wednesday morning, a police spokesperson said.
The gunfight, he said, broke out after the joint team launched a cordon and search operation (CASO) on specific input about the presence of militants in the village. He said the militants fired indiscriminately upon the joint search when they started proceeding towards the suspected spot.
According to the police spokesperson, the joint search party retaliated effectively to the militants firing leading to an encounter.
In the ensuing encounter, he said, three militants, including Mir Owais and Talha Yasir were killed.
“Regarding the third killed terrorist, although the recoveries made from the site of encounter indicate him to be a foreigner however his identification is being ascertained,” he said.
As per police records, the spokesperson said that all the killed militants were part of group involved in attacks on security forces and civilian atrocities and cases were registered against two of those identified.
Owais, he said, was involved in killing of a civilian Azad Ahmad Dar of Kangan Pulwama, while Yasir was mastermind in preparation of vehicle-borne IEDs besides, involved in attack on civilian at Wanpora area of Pulwama.
According to an army spokesperson, Owais was active in the Pulwama district since February last year. Prior to that, he said, the killed militant was an OGW of Jaish and used to provide safe passage and accommodation to the foreign militants of the outfit in Pulwama.
“Incriminating materials, arms and ammunition including 02 M-4 Carbine and 01 AK series rifle were recovered from the site of encounter. All the recovered materials have been taken into case records for further investigation,” the police spokesperson said.
He quoted IGP Kashmir as congratulating the joint security forces for conducting successful operation without any collateral damage and also appreciated people of the area for their cooperation with the forces by maintaining calm and not resorting to any kind of violence during the course of operation.
“Police have registered case under relevant sections of law and investigation has been initiated. People are requested to cooperate with Police till the area at encounter site is completely sanitized and cleared of all the explosive materials, if any,” the police spokesperson added.
Pertinently, today’s gunfight in Pulwama comes a day after police claimed killing two local militants of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) Amir Ahmad Wani and Sameer Ahmad Khan in an encounter in neighbouring Kulgam district on Tuesday.
A day earlier, police claimed to have killed most wanted Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) militant Saleem Parray of Hajin and a foreign national Hafiz alias Hamza of Pakistan in two back to back encounters near Shalimar Bagh, here in this capital city on Monday.
In the last five days since New Year, police have claimed to have killed seven militants, including two Pakistani nationals in a series of gun-battles in the Valley.
Cops To Get Bullet-Resistant Jackets
The Jammu and Kashmir Police has initiated the process to procure over 8,000 bullet-resistant (BR) jackets for its personnel involved in anti-militancy and security operations, official sources said.
The police will also procure BR vehicles of various levels of protection and glasses for vehicles, helmets, ultra-wide CCTV surveillance systems and deep search mine detectors, they said.
As many as 7,416 BR jackets of level-5 protection and 784 BR jackets of level-6 protection will be procured by the police to provide its personnel involved in anti-militancy and security operations the best possible protection, the sources said.
Levels-5 and 6 indicate a high level of threat and protection. They are tested to withstand at least five shots of a variety of weapons, they said.
The police headquarters recently floated bids on the Government e-Marketplace (GeM) portal for the purchase of these jackets. The jackets should protect police personnel from all sides and be available in all sizes, they added.
These jackets will undergo mandatory ballistic testing at the Gujarat Forensic Sciences University (GFSU) laboratory.
The police have also floated bids on the GeM portal for the procurement of 47 BR light motor vehicles (LMVs) of level-3 protection, 15 BR LMVs of level-2, 10 BR LMVs of level-1, 100 ultra wide CCTV surveillance systems, 12 deep search mine detectors and 45 mini drones, among other things, the sources said.
This is aimed at providing an edge to the police force, which is engaged in anti-militancy operations, law and order maintenance and ensuring overall security, they said. (PTI)
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