Of 3 Jaish operatives killed in Kulgam, 2 were Pakistanis, one Kashmiri

Two Pakistanis were among the three Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) terrorists killed in a firefight with security forces in Jammu and Kashmir’s Kulgam on Sunday, the state police said on Monday.

At least eight JeM terrorists have been killed since the Pakistan-based group claimed responsibility for the killing of 40 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) in a suicide car bomb attack in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pulwama district on February 14.

The police identified the three killed in Kulgam as Raqib Ahmad Sheikh, a local resident, and Pakistani nationals Waleed and Numan.

Deputy police superintendent Aman Kumar Thakur and an Army soldier were also killed in the Kulgam firefight.

A police statement said Waleed and Numan were JeM’s top commanders and were active in southern parts of the Kashmir Valley. “They were involved in conspiring and executing several terrorist attacks…,’’ the statement added without elaborating.

The statement said arms and ammunition were recovered from the firefight scene and advised people against venturing inside the gunbattle zone since such an area can be dangerous due to stray explosive materials.

“People are requested to cooperate with the police till the area is completely sanitized and cleared of all the explosives materials if any.”

Thakur, a 2011 batch Kashmir Police Service officer, led the operation in Kulgam. He had been heading the state police’s counter-terrorism wing in the district for around two years. Thakur had played an instrumental role in killing terrorists in the area, another police statement said on Sunday.

Thakur was a resident of Gogla in Jammu and Kashmir’s Doda district. He is survived by his parents, widow, Sarla Devi, and six-year-old son, Arya.

Three militants, including two Pakistanis, were killed in Pulwama in a major anti-terror operation against the JeM leadership four days after the car bomb attack on February 14.

The three were killed within 100 hours of the car bomb attack. Four Army soldiers, including a Major, and a policeman were also killed in the operation.