5 terrorists killed in BIG Pulwama, Budgam ops: 10 things to know

Four JeM terrorists were killed in the encounter in Naira area of Pulwama, while one ultra of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) was killed in Budgam district.

New Delhi: Five terrorists including a top self-styled commander of the Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) outfit were killed in two separate overnight encounters in Pulwama and Budgam districts of the Kashmir valley, the officials informed on Sunday (January 30). 

Here is all you need to know about this big story:

1. a joint press conference IGP Kashmir, Vijay Kumar, and GoC of the army's Victor Force, Major General Prashant Srivastava informed that gunfights broke out on Saturday in Pulwama and Budgam districts after the security forces received specific inputs about the presence of terrorists.

2. Four JeM terrorists were killed in the encounter in Naira area of Pulwama, while one ultra of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) was killed in Chrar-i-Sharief area of the central Kashmir's Budgam district, officials said. One AK56 rifle was recovered from the encounter site in Budgam.

3. JeM chief Zahid Wani along with one Pakistani terrorist identified as Kafeel and two others were killed in Pulwama. 

4. “Zahid Wani was a top commander of the Jaish. His brother was involved in the Ban Plaza attack (in Jammu) and is in jail. Wani was active since 2017, involved in several killings, recruitment. After the killing of Sameer Dar, he became the district commander of JeM. In fact, he was the Jaish chief of the whole valley. It was a good operation and I want to congratulate the security forces,” IGP Kashmir Vijay Kumar was quoted as saying by PTI.

5. GoC Victor Force said the Pulwama operation was a part of the series of human intelligence-based operations that have been carried out in the jurisdiction of the Army's 15 Corps in the past few months. 

6. "With this success, we have taken a very important step in neutralising the threat of JeM in this area. With the neutralising of Wani, we have eliminated one of the masterminds of various IED attacks that have taken place over the years since 2017," Maj Gen Srivastava said. He further said that Wani was involved in "extensive recruitment" of young boys into militancy. GoC Victor Force added, "He (Wani) misled them to their untimely death and caused a lot of anguish to the families and the people who are residing in this area. His elimination will provide a lot of relief to the residents of the district and indeed in the entire J-K." 

7. IGP Kumar said the owner of the house at Naira Pulwama where the encounter took place, will be booked under UAPA.

8. Kumar exclaimed that it was for the first time that the number of terrorists has dropped below 200. 

9. In the month of January, 11 encounters have taken place across the Kashmir Valley. And in these operations, 21 terrorists have been killed so far. Out of these killed terrorists, 8 are said to be foreigners mostly belonging to Pakistan. 

10. Earlier security forces in Kashmir Valley had said that their focus for the year 2022 will be killing all foreign terrorists in the Kashmir Valley. They believe these foreign terrorists are responsible for the recruitment of youth into the terror outfits and training them. 

(With inputs from Idrees Lone and PTI)