With the elimination of three dreaded Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terrorists behind the Amarnath Yatra killings, the number of Lashkar terrorists killed in Jammu and Kashmir has gone up to 64, the highest toll for any terror group operating in the valley.
Three terrorists killed in a chance encounter included Abu Furqan and Abu Maviya - both foreign terrorists. Furqan being the successor of Abu Ismail.
Abu Ismail, a Pakistani terrorist, was gunned down in September. Ismail was the mastermind behind the Amarnath Yatra attacks that took place on July 7. The incident left 7 dead and 18 injured.
Furqan met a similar end in Quazigund on Tuesday. Also killed in the encounter was Yawar Basir, Lashkar district commander of Anantnag and Kulgam. Other top terrorists killed were Junaid Mattoo in Arwani village on June 16, Bashir Lashkar on July1 in Anantnag. Mahmood Bhai and Muzammil were killed in North Kashmir.
Lashkar chief Hafiz Saeed may be free from house arrest, but his terror group has suffered its biggest setback since the beginning of Operation All Out. Incidentally Saeed's confidante Zaki-Ur Rehman Lakhvi's own nephew Owaid was also gunned down in Bandipora just last month.
Sources said that 29 local militants and 35 Pakistani Lashkar cadres have been killed by security forces in joint operations in 2017. Top sources indicate that the success of operations lay not not only in the deaths of footmen but also top commanders.CRPF DG RR Bhatnagar credited the success to "joint operations" in the Valley.
Eighteen terrorists of the lethal Jaish-e-Mohammed (JEM) cadres were eliminated. Only two among them were locals. At least 73 terrorists of the 203 who were gunned down enlisted are non-categorised militants. These are militants who belong to hybrid modules.
