Mallika Dureja
During an encounter in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pulwama district on Tuesday, security forces shot and killed two terrorists who were thought to have killed a Kashmiri Pandit two days ago, police said.
The terrorists, named Aqib Mustaq Bhat from Pulwama and Aijaz Ahmad Bhat from Tral, were hiding in a mosque in Padgampora village in Awantipora when the army, J&K Police, and Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) launched an operation based on specific information.
ADGP Vijay Kumar said that the terrorists were working with The Resistance Front (TRF), which is a branch of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT).
The terrorists also killed two migrant workers at Lajoora in Pulwama on April 5 of last year and tried to steal weapons at Tral on January 1 of this year, police said. Sanjay Sharma, a bank employee, was killed on Sunday.
A police spokesperson said in a statement that so far the investigation has shown that the two terrorists worked together to plan an attack on minorities, outsiders, other vulnerable targets, and security forces.
The spokesperson said, “Based on specific information, a cordon was set up in Padgampora village of Awantipora by joint forces of Army, J&K Police, and CRPF.” During the search, terrorists hiding in a mosque opened fire on the people looking for them. In this first exchange of fire, two soldiers were seriously hurt and one terrorist was killed on the spot. Later, one of the jawans died from his injuries.”
The spokesperson also said that the forces were very careful and got the civilians out of the mosque safely. “The civilians who were praying in the mosque were taken out in time, so there was no other damage. “When the search for the second terrorist, who was hiding in a bathroom of a building next door, was resumed, care was taken again, and 14 civilians were saved from the area before he was killed,” the statement said.
ADGP Kumar said that the operation was complicated and that the forces prevented any hostages from being taken and also kept the mosque’s holy status.
“The terrorists were killed less than two days after Sanjay Sharma was killed,” he said.
Sharma is a Kashmiri Pandit who lives in Achan in Pulwama. On Sunday, terrorists shot at him as he was going to a local market. The 45-year-old man, who worked as a security guard at a bank, died in the hospital from his wounds.
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The killing of yet another member of a minority group sparked new protests in the Valley on Monday. Political parties criticised the government for saying that things are back to normal in the area, and members of the minority group called for the removal of Lieutenant Governor (L-G) Manoj Sinha.
The killing of a Pandit on Sunday was the first one of a Pandit since October 2022. Since last year, five people from the community have been killed out of fear. Eight migrant workers have also been killed in attacks, all of which were done by terror groups.
Police said that Aqib Mustaq was a type A terrorist and that Aijaz Ahmad was a type C terrorist (A line on explaining the categories). Both had been working since January 2021 and May 2022.
“Aqib Mustaq Bhat was a type A militant from Pulwama. He used to work for the terrorist group Hizbul Mujahideen, but he now works for TRF. The other terrorist was part of Jaish and also worked for TRF. Both of them killed Sharma,” Kumar said.
A spokesperson said that at the site of the shootout, they found an AK-47, an AK-74, a pistol, three grenades, two pouches, five AK magazines, two pistol magazines, 103 AK rounds, 20 pistol rounds, and two Aadhaar cards.
