3 More Terrorists Neutralised In Pampore Of Jammu & Kashmir

Srinagar: In what is seen as a major success against well-trained militants, security forces neutralised three more terrorists in Pampore district of Jammu and Kashmir in an operation which began late on Thursday night and continued into Friday. In two separate encounters, security forces successfully eliminated eight terrorists over the past few hours.

News reports coming in earlier stated that security forces had eliminated five terrorists in Shopian in a well-coordinated operation against the terrorists. The security forces carried out a well-planned operation which lasted several hours at the end of which, five terrorists in Shopian were eliminated.

Reports coming in later said that three terrorists were neutralised in Pampore taking the total number of armed militants eliminated by security forces in the Valley over the past few hours to 8. Taken together, both the operations mark a new achievement for security forces in the Valley against highly motivated, armed terrorists.

Over the past three weeks or so, security forces have eliminated close to 25 terrorists in joint operations in several major encounters. Significantly, the theatre of terrorist activity has shifted to South Kashmir. Shopian district in Jammu and Kashmir, has emerged as a hotbed of terrorists in recent months.

Pakistan has been trying to stir up trouble in the Valley especially after Centre's abrogation of Article 370 in August last year. However, vigilant security forces have thwarted the attempt of terrorists to sneak across the Line of Control (LoC) into the Valley. Among successful operations conducted by the security forces was the elimination of two Hizbul commanders and also a well-trained explosives expert, a nephew of the founder of the terrorist outfit, Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), Masood Azhar.