Srinagar ,March 27: Twelve Lashkar-e-Tayyaba militants, including a "district commander", have been killed in three separate clashes with security forces in Jammu and Kashmir. The fiercest gunfight of the three has been raging in the woods close to the Line of Control in Keran sector, northwest of Srinagar, since Wednesday, leaving eight militants dead and an Army officer critically injured, officials here said on Saturday.

In another clash underway in a surrounding area of the de facto border in Rajouri district, three militants have been killed so far whereas a "district commander" of the LeT identified as Rahmatullah, alias Saifullah, and his accomplice Nissar Ahmed Parray, alias Abu Moaz, were slain in a gun battle with security forces in eastern Kishtwar district on Wednesday.

Officials here said the militants killed in two separate incidents near the LoC were part of larger groups of militants trying to sneak into Jammu and Kashmir but they were challenged and fired at by Indian troops, triggering fierce gun battles. A report from Rajouri said Army paratroopers have been airlifted into the densely forested area of Kalakore Baji Mahal to take on a group of six to eight infiltrators. "The fighting broke out during the intervening night of March 26 and 27 and, so far, three terrorists are reported to have been killed," said a defence spokesperson here.

About the firefight raging in Keran sector’s Badnambal area, the spokesperson, Lt. Col. J.S.Brar, said five militants were killed on Saturday, raising the toll among the infiltrators to eight. Two militants were killed Wednesday, the first day of fighting, and another on Friday. An earlier report said an Army colonel was injured during the initial exchange of fire. But Lt. Col. Brar claimed all the three operations were "meticulously planned and surgically executed, without any casualties to Army troops".

He added, "In the ongoing search operations in Keran sector alone, a total of eight terrorists have been killed till date. Of these five were gunned down today (Saturday). The operation is still in progress." According to him, the area in which fighting is underway is at a high altitude with dense vegetation and 12 to 15 feet of residual snow.

Giving further details about the clash in Rajouri’s Kalakore area, the spokesperson said that based on specific inputs, a surgical operation was launched by the Rashtriya Rifles in the area at 9 am Saturday. "The terrorists were hiding in a nallah in the forested area. The Army column swung into action and cordoned off all escape routes, leading to a heavy exchange of fire for nearly two hours resulting in the elimination of two Pakistani terrorists," he said and identified the slain men as Abu Osama and Abu Sorab. Two AK-47 rifles with eight magazines and 214 rounds, one Chinese pistol with three magazines and 15 rounds, one solar charger, two radio sets with two chargers, one Garmin GPS, one satellite phone charger, a sophisticated compass, a map sheet and matrix sheet, two UBGL grenades, one binocular, two hand grenades, medicine and eatables were found in the militants’ rucksacks.

"With the elimination of terrorist leaders, Uniform Force (sic) has brought near normalcy in the area of Reasi and parts of Rajouri," the spokesperson claimed.

In the third clash, during a cordon-and-search operation in Merul nallah, nine km north of Kishtwar town, two hardcore LeT militants — Rehmatulla, alias Saifullah, district commander of the outfit, and Nissar Ahmed Parray, a recent LeT recruit — were killed. One AK-47 assault rifle and one Chinese grenade were found on the slain militants.

The spokesperson said, "Since December 2009, the Army has systematically neutralised eight senior cadres of the Hizb-ul-Mujahideen and Lashkar-e-Tayyaba in Kishtwar district and with that the area has been made safer for the locals to live in. With the neutralisation of Saifullah, who was a top commander of the Lashkar in Kishtwar, it is believed that the area could well be on its way back to normalcy as the terrorist outfits are battling low morale amongst their rank and file."

Yusuf Jameel