2018: The year of ‘Operation All Out’

Srinagar, Dec 28: A little over 250 terrorists have been killed in Jammu and Kashmir in 2018 alone. The reason behind this astounding success was thanks to the launch of 'Operation All Out' by the Indian Security Forces.

There were several aspects to this operation that included, renewed human intelligence, local support, technical intelligence and the resolve of the Army men. Following the death of Hizbul Mujahideen commander, Burhan Ani, there was a surge in the recruitments. It went on for two years since 2016 and suddenly the Valley was swarming with terrorists.

While the number of recruitments was high, the forces were able to easily identify the new recruits as each one made it a point to post his bio on social media. This helped the forces identify the terrorists and gun them down one by one.

After identifying the terrorists, the Army prepared a hit-list and worked according to plan. The preparing of this hit-list helped as the same went viral and information from various sources began to pour in. This paid off and the Army was able to wipe out 250 terrorists this year alone (statistics until December 16 2018).

Incidentally this is the highest number of terrorists killed in Jammu and Kashmir since 2007. The list also included 18 top commanders of the Hizbul Mujahideen, Jaish-e-Mohammad, Lashkar-e-Tayiba and Ansar Ghazwat-ul Hind. Altaf Kachroo, Towseef Shaikh, Umar Ghaani, Abu Hanzala alias Naveed Jatt are some of the top commanders who bit the Army's bullet this year.

While there are around 250 terrorists still remaining in the Valley, one could take solace from the fact that there have been no recruitments since October 2018. Security officials also say that the other positive is that several locals have been coming forward to help the security agencies and this has helped in identifying terrorists and also tracking them.

However in the days ahead, the forces would keep their focus on the remaining 250 terrorists remaining in the Valley. The worry is the border and terrorists continue to infiltrate. While on one hand the local recruitments have been reduced to a large extent, on the other infiltrations have been on the rise.