News Analysis India

Tag: Jammu and Kashmir

  • Kashmir civilian killings continue as non-local vendor shot dead by militants in Srinagar

    By IANS

    SRINAGAR: A non-local street vendor was shot and killed by militants on Saturday in the capital city of Jammu and Kashmir.

    Police sources said a non-local street vendor was shot and critically injured by militants near the Eidgah park in Srinagar city.

    “He was shifted to hospital for treatment where doctors said he was dead on arrival. The area has been surrounded for searches”, sources said.

    ALSO READ | 13 terrorists killed in nine encounters after civilian killings in J-K: IGP Kashmir

    Reports say the street vendor has been identified as Arvind Kumar of Bihar.

    Militants had killed a school principal and a teacher in a government higher secondary school in the same area on October 7.

    Two days before that, militants had killed a famous pharmacy owner, M.L. Bindroo, a Bihari street vendor and a taxi driver in a series of attacks on civilians.

  • Kashmir civilian killings continue as two non-locals shot dead by militants in Srinagar, Pulwama

    By PTI

    SRINAGAR: Two non-locals were shot dead by militants in Srinagar and Pulwama districts of Jammu and Kashmir on Saturday, police said.

    Arvind Kumar Sah (30), a resident of the Banka area in Bihar, was shot at by the ultras outside a park at Eidgah in Srinagar in the evening, a police official said.

    He said Kumar died on the spot.

    In another incident, militants fired at and critically injured Saghir Ahmad, a carpenter hailing from Uttar Pradesh, in Pulwama district, the official said.

    Ahmad succumbed to injuries in a hospital, he added.

    The killings come on a day when police claimed to have gunned down three militants in a span of 24 hours who were involved in last week’s killings of members of minority communities.

    The BJP has condemned Saturday’s killings.

    Party spokesman Altaf Thakur said the killings of two non-locals is highly condemnable and shocking.

    He urged the police to nab the killers and punish them sternly.

    Former chief minister and national Conference leader Omar Abdullah also condemned the killings.

    ALSO READ | 13 terrorists killed in nine encounters after civilian killings in J-K: IGP Kashmir

    “Strongly condemn the killing of street vendor Arvind Kumar in a terror attack in Srinagar today. This is yet another case of a civilian being targeted like this.

    All Arvind Kumar did was come to Srinagar in search of earning opportunities & it’s reprehensible that he was murdered,” Omar tweeted.

    People’s Conference chairman Sajad Gani Lone termed the attacks as cowardly.

    “This is pure terror. Yet again a non-local vendor shot and killed in Idgah. What a shame. How cowardly can it get,” Lone tweeted.

  • Civilian killings continue as vendor and carpenter shot dead by militants in Srinagar, Pulwama

    Express News Service

    SRINAGAR: A week after three minority community members and a street vendor from Bihar were killed, another gol gappa seller from Bihar and a carpenter from Uttar Pradesh were shot dead, the first in Srinagar and the other in Pulwama.

    The late evening shootings came on day when two militants who were responsible for the  killings of civilians in Srinagar last week, were shot dead in a gunfight in Pulwama, south Kashmir. A police official said the street vendor, Arbind Kumar Sah of Banka in Bihar, was shot dead near Eidgah in downtown Srinagar in the evening. “He was shot at point blank range. He had received bullet injuries in the head and died on the spot,” he said.

    Within an hour, a carpenter belonging to Uttar Pradesh was shot at a shop in the Litter area of Pulwama in south Kashmir. Identified as Sagir Ahmed, he received critical bullet injuries and was rushed to the district hospital where he succumbed to his injuries.

    Immediately after both the incidents, the police and paramilitary personnel rushed to the area and launched a search operation. At least nine civilians, including three minority community members, have been killed in a fortnight. Lt Governor Manoj Sinha strongly condemned the killings. “My heartfelt condolences to families who have lost their loved ones. J&K Govt stands in solidarity with the bereaved families in this hour of grief,” Sinha tweeted.

    Perpetrators of these heinous attacks will be punished soon. We have intensified our efforts to crush terrorists & their ecosystem.They will have to pay a very heavy price for killing innocent civilians.I urge people to speak in one voice & join hands in the fight against terror.
    — Office of LG J&K (@OfficeOfLGJandK) October 16, 2021

    He said the perpetrators of the heinous attacks would be punished. “We have intensified our efforts to crush terrorists & their ecosystem. They will have to pay a very heavy price for killing innocent civilians. I urge people to speak in one voice & join hands in the fight against terror,” he said.

    Meanwhile, two The Resistance Front militants, Umer Mushtaq Khandey and Shahid Khurshid, were killed in an encounter in the Pampore area of Pulwama in south Kashmir.

  • 13 terrorists killed in nine encounters after civilian killings in J-K: IGP Kashmir

    Speaking to reporters, the IGP Kashmir said, “13 terrorists killed in nine encounters after civilian killings. We have neutralised 3 out of 5 terrorists of Srinagar city within less than 24 hours.”

  • J&K civilian killings: Senior police officer denies security lapse

    By PTI

    SRINAGAR: A senior Jammu and Kashmir Police officer on Saturday ruled out any security lapse behind the recent civilian killings in the Valley and said that it is not possible to provide security to all those who may be soft targets for terrorists.

    Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a function here, Inspector General of Police (IGP), Kashmir, Vijay Kumar said that none of the civilians killed last week had been provided security by the police.

    Seven civilians, including four from minority communities, were killed by terrorists in Kashmir last week, triggering fear among the people in the Valley and criticism of the security apparatus by political parties.

    ALSO READ | Militant involved in civilian killings in Srinagar gunned down in encounter in Pulwama

    “There was no lapse in security….They (terrorists) chose soft targets, we had not provided security to them (civilians). It is not possible to provide security to all soft targets,” Kumar said.

    He said security forces acted swiftly and identified all five terrorists involved in the killings.

    “Two of them have been neutralised and the other three will also be tracked down soon,” he added.

    Dismissing criticism of the security apparatus by politicians, Kumar said the police are dealing with the situation professionally.

    ALSO READ | Fallout of civilian killings: Govt asks migrant Pandit employees not to leave Kashmir Valley

    “It is the job of politicians to make all kinds of statements. I am a professional and I know how to deal with it (situation). We are dealing with it professionally,” he said.

    The IGP said that 11 terrorists have been killed in nine encounters since October 8.

    “Two more are trapped (in an encounter at Pampore) and they will also be killed soon,” he said.

    Many political leaders had criticised the Centre and the security forces over the civilian killings in Kashmir.

    Some had also demanded that accountability be fixed for the “repeated security lapses” and security be provided to members of minority communities living in the Valley.

  • J&K encounters: Search op continues in Poonch-Rajouri forest areas to track down terrorists 

    By PTI

    JAMMU: A massive search operation in the forest areas of Jammu and Kashmir’s twin border districts of Poonch and Rajouri to track down terrorists involved in the killing of seven Army soldiers entered its sixth day on Saturday, officials said.

    They said gunshots were heard as the joint search parties of the Army and the police resumed the operation in Poonch’s Mendhar area.

    However, it was not immediately clear whether it was speculative firing by the search parties or fresh contact was established with the terrorists, they said.

    The area is mountainous and the forest is dense, which makes the operation difficult and dangerous, according to the officials.

    ALSO READ | Militants involved in Srinagar cop’s killing gunned down in joined operation

    A vast forest area of Mendhar has been under tight security cordon since Thursday, when riflemen Vikram Singh Negi and Yogambar Singh, both from Uttarakhand, were killed in an encounter with terrorists in the Nar Khas forest.

    Earlier on October 11, five Army personnel, including a Junior Commissioned Officer (JCO), were killed when terrorists attacked a search party in Poonch’s Surankote forest.

    There was an exchange of fire between the Army search parties and the fleeing terrorists in the adjoining Thanamandi forest in Rajouri the same day.

    The officials said that the entire forest area from Mendhar to Thanamandi remains under a strict cordon and a massive search operation is on to neutralise the terrorists who are moving from one place to another in an attempt to escape the dragnet.

    The traffic between Mendhar and Thanamandi along the Jammu-Rajouri highway remained suspended for the second day in view of the ongoing operation, they said.

    ALSO READ | Families of Poonch martyrs united in grief

    On Tuesday, Deputy Inspector General of Police, Rajouri-Poonch range, Vivek Gupta had said that the terrorists involved in the attack on security forces in Poonch had been present in the area for the last two to three months.

    Rajouri and Poonch in the Jammu region have witnessed a rise in infiltration attempts since June this year, resulting in the killing of nine terrorists in separate encounters.

    Meanwhile, a defence spokesperson said that the mortal remains of riflemen Negi and Singh were flown to Uttarakhand in a service aircraft this morning after a wreath-laying ceremony.

    The aircraft will reach the Jolly Grant Airport in Dehradun by 11.30 am, he said.

    From the airport, the mortal remains of the soldiers will be taken to their home towns by road and their last rites will be conducted with full military honours, he said.

  • Families of Poonch martyrs united in grief

    Express News Service

    DEHRADUN:  As the news of martyrdom of Army soldiers Vikram Singh Negi and Yogambar Singh reached their home in Uttarakhand, family members still are in shock and disbelief. Both the jawans were killed in Nar Khas forest area during the counter-terrorism operation in Jammu and Kashmir’s Poonch district. While Negi, 26, was a resident of Village Viman Gaon, Singh, 27, hailed from Saankri village.

    Singh, who returned to his posting in July after a month’s leave, has a one- year-old son. His wife Kusum Devi fell unconscious while his parents are in a state of shock. Janki Devi has been inconsolable after she lost her son in the line of duty. “This is like snatching away a family’s life. I don’t know how I will console my family members,” said Vasudev Singh, a kin at Saankri in Chamoli district. 

     Anand Singh Bhandari, gram pradhan of Sankari village,  said Singh joined the Army in year 2015.  “We all attended his marriage in 2018 and danced our hearts out. We were proud of him and now all that remains are memories,” the pradhan said. The body of the martyr reached Rishikesh and would arrive till late night or on Saturday morning. 

    Surendra Singh Negi, the uncle of rifleman Virendra Singh Negi, said Vikram joined the Army five years back.  “The information (of martyrdom) was received by his wife Parvati. It’s devastating. He had his whole life to live… It’s unfair how terrorism has cut such promising life short,” said the grieving uncle. Negi’s 18-month son is unaware that he will never get to know his father or meet him.  The Negi household, especially the  martyr’s wife, mother Birja Devi and 95-year-old grandmother Rukma Devi, are speechless as they struggle to come  terms with their loss.

    Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dham condoled the loss of the two families.  “Our soldiers have made the  supreme sacrifice in the service of Mother India. Their sacrifice will never ever be forgotten. I pray to God to grant courage and patience to the families and all of us to bear the loss,” he said.

  • Two soldiers die in Poonch gunfight

    Express News Service

    SRINAGAR: Days after five soldiers died in a gunfight with terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir’s Poonch, two army personnel, including a Junior Commissioned Officer (JCO), were killed during a fresh encounter with militants hiding in the same forest area of the border district on Thursday evening. 

    Defence spokesperson in Jammu, Lt-Col Devender Anand, said there was a heavy exchange of fire between the militants and the army troops carrying out a counter-terror operation near Nar Khas forest area in Mendhar sub-division of Poonch. While the JCO was killed, the critically injured soldier was evacuated to a military hospital for specialised treatment but succumbed later. Additional army personnel were rushed to the area to tighten the siege and prevent the militants from escaping. “The operation was going on when reports last poured in,” the defence spokesperson said. 

    Sources said the place where the encounter broke out is part of a forest area that runs through Dera Ki Gali in Surankote area in Poonch, where a fierce gunfight had taken place between terrorists and the army on Monday morning in which five soldiers, including a JCO, had been killed.

    The militants had escaped from the area after the gunfight and were spotted by security personnel a few hours later in the forest area of Bhangai village in neighboring Rajouri district. A brief gunfight had taken place between the two sides before the militants again managed to escape deep into the dense forest rea.

    Sources said a group of three-four militants, suspected to have infiltrated from across the border, are believed to be hiding in the area. The army has been using helicopters to track and pinpoint the movement of the terrorists.

    Besides the gunfight in Poonch, five encounters have taken place in Kashmir this week in which eight militants, including a Jaish-e-Mohammad commander, were killed. There has been a surge in encounters after seven civilians, including three minority community members and a non-local street vendor, were shot dead by militants in Kashmir last week.

  • Game has just begun in J&K, warns new terror outfit ‘Resistance Front’

    By Express News Service

    NEW DELHI: The Resistance Front, which came in limelight for the recent spate of civilian killings in Jammu and Kashmir, on Thursday issued a fresh threat that it would “strike” aggressively. The threat comes two days after the NIA raided multiple locations in the newly carved union territory to nab militants of TRF.

    Sources in the security establishment termed the threat letter as a “desperate” attempt of the terror group to seek attention. A frontal organisation of Pakistan-backed terror outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba, TRF first appeared at the scene in October 2019.

    “The response of the security forces to the violence carried out by TRF has rattled it. In the past few days, eight militants have been killed in Kashmir. This is a desperate attempt to seek attention,” said a senior security officer.

    On Thursday, TRF specifically mentioned NIA in its threat message. It stated ‘the game has just begun’. Accusing security agencies of “harassing” thousands of youths and “fabricating cases” against people, the terror outfit said it would make the situation “worse” and it would “expand operations”. The TRF’s first known activity was a grenade attack on October 12, 2019 that injured eight civilians in Srinagar.

    Till the recent past, the TRF militants were not very active but in October, they carried out a spree of civilian killings, particularly targeting minorities in the valley. They committed four cold blooded murders of Kashmiri Pandit Makhan Lal Bindroo, street vendor Virendar Paswan of Bihar, and two teachers, Supinder Kaur and Deepak Chand. Another civilian, Mohammad Shafi, was killed in Bandipora district. The killings have created fear among the minority communities in the Kashmir Valley.

  • NIA arrests 4 terror associates in multiple raids in Jammu and Kashmir

    By PTI

    SRINAGAR: NIA has arrested four terror associates during searches at 16 locations in Jammu and Kashmir following registration of a case to unearth a conspiracy hatched by various terror groups to carry out attacks in the Union Territory and other major cities, including New Delhi, an official said on Wednesday.

    The National Investigation Agency (NIA) had registered the case on October 10 and initiated an investigation.

    Four accused people — Waseem Ahmad Sofi, Tariq Ahmad Dar, Bilal Ahmad Mir alias “Bilal Fafu” and Tariq Ahmad Bafanda, all residents of Srinagar — were arrested during the searches carried out in Srinagar, Pulwama and Shopian districts on Tuesday, a spokesperson of the NIA said.

    The NIA said a preliminary investigation has revealed that the arrested accused people are terror associates or Over Ground Workers (OGWs) of various proscribed terrorist organisations and have been providing logistical and material support to terrorists and facilitating them in their nefarious designs.

    “During the searches conducted yesterday (Tuesday), several electronic devices, incriminating Jehadi (holy war) documents and records of suspicious financial transactions were seized,” the spokesperson said.

    The NIA said the case pertains to information received regarding hatching of conspiracy both physically and in cyberspace for undertaking violent terrorist acts in Jammu and Kashmir and other major cities, including New Delhi, by cadres of proscribed terrorist organisations Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), Hizb-ul-Mujahideen (HM), Al Badr and similar other outfits and their affiliates such as The Resistance Front (TRF) and People Against Fascist Forces (PAFF).

    “The terror associates/Over Ground Workers of these organisations are conspiring with their handlers and commanders based in a neighbouring country and also indulging in radicalisation of local youth for the purpose of recruiting and training them in handling of arms, ammunition and explosives,” the spokesperson said.

    The spokesperson said these terrorists and cadres have affected several terrorist acts, including killing of numerous innocent civilians and security personnel, and unleashing a reign of terror in the Kashmir valley, thereby challenging the writ of the state.

    The NIA said further investigation in the case continues.