 "Representational image. Reuters")
This week, Indian forces killed six terrorists in the Valley in 48 hours.
The Indian Army, Jammu and Kashmir Police and the Central Reserve Police Force neutralised half a dozen terrorists including three from the Jaish-e-Mohammad in two separate operations.
The anti-terror ops, which occurred in south Kashmir, were called Operation Keller and Operation Nader.
Each operation saw three terrorists killed.
The development comes after security forces began a crackdown in the Valley in the wake of the Pahalgam terror attack by The Resistance Force – an offshoot of the Lashkar-e-Taiba – in which 26 were left dead.
“The security agencies reviewed their strategy according to the situation in the wake of terror activities in the last one month and our intensified focus was on operations,” VK Birdi, Inspector General of Police (IGP), Kashmir, said on Friday.
Birdi was addressing a press conference at the headquarters of the Victor Force in south Kashmir’s Pulwama district alongside General Officer Commanding, Victor Force, Major General Dhananjay Joshi.
But what do we know about the anti-terror ops?
Let’s take a closer look:
Operation Keller
As per Business Standard, the first anti-terror operation was nicknamed Operation Keller .
The operation began in the Shukroo Keller area in Shopian district on May 13.
As per NDTV, the forces on May 12 got inputs about a terror group potentially being in Shukroo Keller.
Joshi said the forces head narrowed down several areas on which to focus in the wake of the Pahalgam terror attack.
However, in this case, they had intelligence.
“We had intelligence inputs that terrorists had moved to the higher reaches after the melting of snow. Keeping that in mind, our domination parties had continuously been deployed in the higher reaches, mountainous areas and forests,” Joshi said.
This operation occurred on higher ground in a forest area.
As per Indian Express, the Indian forces sent out a search party which found the terrorists the next morning.
The terrorists, on being identified, opened fire on the troops.
The Indian forces responded in kind – killing three terrorists.
“So the domination party that was deployed there for some time, relocated itself and in a focused way closed in on the area. They challenged the terrorists who fired at them, leading to an encounter in which three terrorists were neutralised,” Joshi added.
As per NDTV, the terrorists killed in were all from the JeM.
They were identified as Asif Ahmed Sheikh, Amir Nazir Wani, and Yawar Ahmed Bhat.
Operation Nader
The second operation, entitled Nader, was carried out at a border village in Pulwama’s Tral on May 15.
As per NDTV, this operation occurred on flat terrain.
It included officers from the Jammu and Kashmir Police and the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF)
As per Indian Express, this occurred after forces were tipped off about the presence of terrorists in the area.
The forces first evacuated the village before engaging the terrorists.
“We had inputs and cordoned off the village. The terrorists took positions in different houses and fired. Our challenge was the safe evacuation of innocent civilians including children,” Major General Joshi said.
“As we were laying a cordon at this village, the terrorists positioned themselves in different houses and fired at us. At this time, the challenge we faced was rescuing the civilian villagers. After this, three terrorists were neutralised. One of the six terrorists neutralised, namely Shahid Kutte, was involved in two major attacks, including an attack on a German tourist. He also had a hand in funding activities,” Major General Joshi was quoted as saying by NDTV.
The attacks Kutte were involved in included one on a sarpanch in Shopian’s Heerpora on May 18 last year.
Kutte was also involved in a firing at Danish Resort on April 8 last year in which two German tourists and a driver were injured.
The successful conduct of both the operations shows that the security forces will find terrorists wherever they are and neutralise them, Major General Joshi said.
Neutralisation of both the modules has dealt a blow to terror outfits and will help in stopping terror activities here and bring peace, he added.
Indian Express quoted IGP Birdi as saying that they were “committed to ending the terror ecosystem here.”
IGP Birdi added that the terrorists were killed due to the intensified focus and coordination between various security agencies
He called the operations “significant achievements”.
“These successful operations were possible because of the coordination and synergy among the security and intelligence agencies. We are duty-bound to end any terror activity in Kashmir and we are always ready to stop such acts,” IGP Birdi said.
With inputs from agencies