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Some terrorists who infiltrated into India from across the border are retired Pakistan soldiers, one of the army’s senior-most generals said on Friday, a day after forces gunned down a top Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) commander and his associate during a 31-hour gunfight in Jammu’s Rajouri district that also saw five soldiers, including two army captains, losing their lives.
General Officer Commanding-in-Chief of the Northern Command, Lieutenant General Upendra Dwivedi, said the army tried to seek the identification of the terrorists and came to know that some of them were retired army personnel from Pakistan.
“Since our (anti-terror) operations are continuing here, Pakistan’s attempt is to bring foreign terrorists here (and fuel terrorism) because local recruitment is not happening. Therefore, our attempt is to eliminate foreign terrorists,” he told reporters after paying his respects to the five army personnel at a wreath-laying ceremony.
READ | Rajouri attack and the Pakistan hand
“Roughly there is a possibility of 20 to 25 terrorists operating in the area but the way the army, police and other intelligence agencies have intensified their operations, we are sure to control the situation within one year,” he added.
The encounter broke out between security forces and terrorists in the Bajimaal area of Kalakote tehsil of Rajouri district on Wednesday morning after officers from the army and Jammu & Kashmir Police acted on an intelligence input and launched a cordon-and-search operation in the area.
By Wednesday, even as bullets continued to fly in the densely forested area, two army Captains and two soldiers were killed, while another officer and soldier were wounded in the fierce gunbattle.
On Thursday, the forces eliminated a top LeT commander — identified as Pakistani national Quari who is believed to be the mastermind behind the Dhangri and Kandi terror attacks this year — along with his associate, who was not identified. Senior army officials said Quari was an expert bomb-maker, a sniper, and was well trained in guerrilla warfare.
READ | J&K: LeT terrorist shot dead on Day 2 of Rajouri encounter
The five soldiers who died were identified as Captain MV Pranjal, Captain Shubham Gupta, Havaldar Abdul Majid, Lance Naik Sanjay Bisht, Paratrooper Sachin Laur.
Lt Gen Dwivedi called the killing of Qauri and his associate a big success for the nation.
“It’s a major setback to Pakistan because the two dreaded terrorists were trying to bring together an ecosystem that existed in Rajouri and Poonch districts. The moment we finished them, the entire game plan of Pakistan suffered a big setback,” he said.
“These two dreaded terrorists committed heinous killings for the past one year. We were not able to catch them because they were getting weapons, ammunition and inputs from their contacts (ecosystem)… They killed unarmed and hapless civilians and hence killing them was mandatory,” he added.
The January 1-2 Dhangri attack left seven civilians dead. On May 5, five soldiers were killed in an attack during an encounter inside Kandi forest in Rajouri.
The army commander said it was possible that the two terrorists were trained in several countries, including Pakistan and Afghanistan.
READ | Rajouri encounter: 1 more soldier dies, toll goes up to 5, LeT terrorist killed
“They were highly trained foreign terrorists and our brave soldiers without paying attention to their safety got into the operation and eliminated them. The troops have done a laudable job,” he said, and praised the local populace for their support.
“The way security forces and intelligence agencies have intensified their operations with the help of locals, and if the operations continue the way they are on, we would be able to control the situation well within a year,” he added.
The mortal remains of the five army personnel were brought to the Army General Hospital in Jammu from Rajouri where a wreath-laying ceremony was organised. J&K lieutenant governor Manoj Sinha, Lt General Dwivedi, chief secretary Dr A K Mehta, director general of police R R Swain, divisional commissioner Ramesh Kumar and inspector general of police Anand Jain were among a large number of officials of armed forces, civilians and police who paid tributes.
“I bow to our army bravehearts, Captain MV Pranjal, Captain Shubham Gupta, Havaldar Abdul Majid, Lance Naik Sanjay Bisht, Paratrooper Sachin Laur martyred while protecting the motherland during an anti-terror operation in Rajouri. Their valour and sacrifice will never be forgotten. Condolences to their families,” Sinha posted on X (formerly Twitter).
(With agencies’ inputs)
A principal correspondent, Ravi Krishnan Khajuria is the bureau chief at Jammu. He covers politics, defence, crime, health and civic issues for Jammu city.
Some terrorists are ex-Pak soldiers: Gen – Hindustan Times
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