Eight militants were shot dead by the Army and Jammu and Kashmir police’s counter-insurgency Special Operations Group (SOG) in two separate gunbattles in the state on Thursday, one of these taking place in an area close to the Line of Control.
With these killings, the toll among the militants since September 1 has risen to 30, said the Army, adding that 15 of them were slain in gunbattles along the LoC and the rest in the hinterland. Defence spokesperson Lt. Col. J.S. Brar said that besides killing six militants on Thursday, Army troops found the bodies of two militants lying in a forest area near the LoC. Also, a large quantity of “war-like stores”, including eight AK rifles, hand grenades, radio sets, sophisticated satellite communication equipment and maps, were found on the slain men.
He said, “In the ongoing operations by the Army, 30 terrorists have been killed since September 1 in the Valley alone, 15 of them on the LoC and 15 in the hinterland.” He added that these operations were conducted “in a professional and surgical manner where in no collateral damage has occurred. This has been another blow to the terrorist design in the Valley.”
The officials said that two militants were gunned down in the woods of Gurez sector in Bandopite district. The slain men were part of a large group of infiltrators which had sneaked into Jammu and Kashmir earlier this month but was soon engaged in gunbattles with Army troops. With the latest killings, as many as 13 members of the group have been eliminated so far while two soldiers also lost their lives, Lt. Col. Brar said.
The operation began on September 6 when the troops guarding the LoC intercepted the group of infiltrating militants. While four militants were gunned down on the first day of the operation, seven more militants were killed two days later. The spokesperson said that six militants were killed in a similar clash occurred during a cordon-and-search operation in Wadkan Tadkaliyan forest area.