Terrorist involved in terrorising Pandits in Valley gunned down

Bhat was instrumental in radicalising a number of youth and had taken it upon himself to terrify the Kashmiri Pandits in the Valley

New Delhi, Nov 02: Three terrorists planning a major attack around the national highway in Jammu and Kashmir have been gunned down by the security forces in Awantipora. The trio have been identified as Mukhtar Ahmed Bhat, Saqlain Mushtaq of Pulwama and Mushfiq a resident of Pakistan.

All three terrorists were affiliated with the Lashkar-e-Tayiba. The killing of Bhat is a big achievement for the security forces as he was involved in a series of killings including that of a Jammu and Kashmir policeman and Riyaz Ahmed Thoker.

Bhat who rose to the ranks of commander very soon was also involved in the attack on the two migrant labourers in Pulwama.

He was also instrumental in radicalising a number of youth and had taken it upon himself to terrify the Kashmiri Pandits in the Valley. Bhat had gone missing from his home on the pretext of visiting a relative. He then went on to join the Lashkar-e-Tayiba.

Bhat very soon rose to the rank of commander and was involved in radicalising youth, terrorising the Pandits, politicians and migrant workers. His killing is a big success for the forces, an official told OneIndia.

Prior to this, the forces had said that this year alone forty terrorists were gunned down in the Valley.

Jammu and Kashmir Director General of Police, Dilbag Singh said that the security forces have this year so far gunned down 40 terrorists from Pakistan in several operations carried out.

He said that the forces are attempting to locate and recover dozens of ready-made improvised explosive devices which have been used in the union territory by Pakistan's agencies.

Singh also said that the terrorists were tasked with targeting non-locals and those living in the UT for a long time. This was being done to provoke a violent reaction against Kashmiris living in other parts of the country.

"Their leadership has been wiped out to a greater extent. Pakistan agencies mostly try to keep the command of Jaish and Lashkar in the hands of Pakistani terrorists so that they can directly control the activities here. Our attempt this year was focused on outside terrorists who come here to mislead youngsters, destroy peace and inflict damage on life and property. In that context, there were many successful operations in which 40 Pakistan-based terrorists were killed in different operations," Singh told media persons.

"There are attempts from time to time to push in terrorists from across the border. There were attempts in Rajouri and Poonch which were foiled. Similarly, in Baramulla and Kupwara, the attempts were foiled. Also in some operations, we recovered dozens of IEDs which are ready to use. Unfortunately, there were some incidents in which these ready-made IEDs were used, particularly in Jammu, where there was some loss of life and property. Two such blasts happened in buses in Udhampur, and earlier, a blast had happened in this district in a vegetable market. Also, there was an incident on a bus earlier," he also said.