Srinagar, March 11 (KNO) : The heads of major security heads in Kashmir Monday stated that one of the slain militants killed in Pinglish encounter in Pulwama district of southern Kashmir was the main brain behind the Lethpora attack of February 14 that left 40 CRPF men dead and dozens injured.
“Forces launched a major offensive and manhunt of Jaish ranks soon after the Lethpora attack. On February 18, we killed Kamran and Rashid alias Gazi. Kamran was the top commander of outfit. Since past 15 days, we have killed 18 militants and 14 of them belong to Jaish alone while two belonged to Lashkar-e-Toiba and two to Hizbul Mujahideen,” said GoC of Srinagar-based 15 Corps headquarters KJS Dhillon, IGP Kashmir S P Pani, and IG CRPF Zulfikar Hassan in a joint presser here.
According to KNO correspondent, two militants were killed in Pinglish encounter that started on Sunday and the slain militants were identified as Mudasir Ahmed Khan alias Muhammad Bhai and another one as Khalid of Pakistan while search at the encounter site was on as three weapons were recovered there. “Mudasir Khan was the main conspirator of the Pulwama attack,” GoC Dhillon said. “The exact role of Mudasir can’t be revealed as it was a matter of investigation but he was the man behind Lethpora attack.”
“The family members of Khan have taken his body,” he said. Forces had launched a cordon and search operation in Pinglish after receiving specific intelligence about the presence of militants in the area. Khan, a resident of Tral had joined JeM in 2017 as an OGW and was later drawn into the outfit by Noor Mohammed Tantry, alias 'Noor Trali', who is believed to have helped the JeM’s revival in the Kashmir. After Tantray was killed in December 2017, Khan disappeared from his home on January 14, 2018, and was active since then.
Speaking on the occasion, IGP Kashmir said that forces have killed 18 militants in the past fortnight of which 14 belonged to Jaish, two to Lashkar-e-Toiba and two to Hizbul Mujahideen. However, the GoC said that more focus was on Jaish leadership and militants to ensure Pulwama like attacks don’t re-occur.
The forces didn’t reveal the actual number of militants operating in Kashmir. “There is a significant dip in the local militant recruitment in Kashmir. We hardly see any missing reports by families and photographs of gun wielding youth on social networking sites,” said IGP Kashmir. Asked about the convoy movement, the GoC Dhillon said that a people friendly convoy movement has been taking place to cause less trouble to civilians. “No harassment is being done and it’s just a figment of imagination,” he said. (KNO)