Srinagar/Nov,19: Army has claimed the elimination of the top leadership of Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) in Kashmir valley but police has ruled out the possibility of the presence of ISIS in Kashmir valley.
After killing of six militants in an encounter in Haji area of North Kashmir’s Bandipora district last Saturday the 15 Corps Commander Lt General J.S. Sandhu at a joint presser with top police officials including Director General Police S P Vaid and Inspector General of Police Kashmir Range Muneer Ahmed Khan said “With the elimination of six of its commanders last Saturday, the top leadership of LeT in the Valley has been wiped out.”
Giving details about Saturday’s operation, he said: “Hajin was an area of concern for us. Militants had killed some people in the area. We inducted Special Forces into the area. Good information started pouring in. We were keeping Chandegeer village on our radar. These militants had been staying there in a house for two to three days.”
The General identified one of the militants killed as Osama Jungvi or Owaid, a nephew of Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi and probably the son of Zakiur Rehman Makki.
Six Pakistani militants including Owaid and two other top commanders of LeT, Zargar and Mehmood, were killed on Saturday. An IAF commando was also killed in the gunfight. “We look forward to continue the operations and restore peace in the Valley very soon,” the General added. “We are working on two lines,” he added.
“One is counter militancy and the second is that we want the local militants to return. “We pulled out and saved an injured militant in Kulgam and saved his life. The local militants must realize whether they are ‘Mujahids’ (Islamic fighters) or proxies of Pakistan,” he added
Director General of Police S.P. Vaid refuted the claims that attack attack on a police party resulting in the killing of a police officer and a militant was the first ISIS attack in Kashmir. Asked to comment, he said: “No, it is yet to be verified. I don’t think ISIS has any presence here.”
Kashmir range Inspector General of Police Muneer Khan also ruled out the presence of ISIS in Kashmir. “I am ruling it out,” he said in reply to a query whether Mugees Ahmed Mir was affiliated with the ISIS. “Tehreekul Mujahideen claimed him so wasn’t he a TeM man?” he said.
Present at the presser a senior CRPF officer said “The synergy among the security forces has been excellent and this is significantly responsible for the successes we have been getting.A large number of boys about to join militancy have been weaned away. With the surrender of footballer Majid Khan, we are entering a field where lot of local boys are willing to come back. Many boys willing to come back do not know the ways and means. We have opened helpline numbers so that contact can be established with us by those who want to come back.”
