Two terrorists killed in north Kashmir as armed forces intensify crackdown | India News – Times of India

SRINAGAR

Security forces killed two terrorists on Tuesday during a search-and-kill operation in north Kashmir’s Bandipora district, part of an intensified attack following an increase in attacks in the valley since an elected government came to power after six years in mid-October came to power in J&K.
“The identities of the killed terrorists have not yet been confirmed and troops are carrying out a clearance operation in the area,” an official said.
Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha vowed that those who target civilians “will not go unpunished” and warned that homes of people harboring terrorists would be demolished.
“I have instructed the armed forces not to harm innocents, but the perpetrators will not be spared. If anyone gives shelter to terrorists, his house will be razed,” he said at a rally in Baramulla.
As security forces focused on terrorists and their support networks, a man from Sopore, identified as Ashiq Hussain Wani, was arrested on Tuesday on suspicion of being a ‘hybrid terrorist’ – a term used for radicalized people who carry out attacks and then move on in everyday life. . Police claimed to have seized a pistol and seven rounds of ammunition from him.
Recent terrorist attacks have resulted in several casualties. On October 14, two soldiers and two civilian porters were killed in an ambush near Gulmarg in Baramulla. A migrant worker from Bihar was fatally shot in Shopian on October 18, followed by the killing of seven tunneling workers in Ganderbal on October 20.
The security efforts have led to several gun battles, including one on November 2 when Lashkar-e-Taiba commander Usman alias Chota Waleed of Pakistan was killed in Srinagar. On the same day, two unknown terrorists were gunned down in Anantnag. However, the terrorists retaliated the next day with a grenade attack, injuring 12 people in a busy market in Srinagar.
Sources attributed the recent increase in violence to two factors: the upcoming winter, which will restrict freedom of movement, and frustration among Pakistan-based “handlers” over peaceful parliamentary elections in J&K, the first in a decade.
LG Sinha said Pakistan continues to push terrorists across the border and stressed that ending violence requires local cooperation. “It is not only the job of the security forces and the government but also of the people to identify such people (terrorists),” he said, adding that with civilian support, terrorism could be eradicated from J&K within a year.
State ‘certain’
The recovery of the state is “as certain as the sun rising from the east”, LG Sinha said on Tuesday, echoing the central point of his speech the day before at the inaugural meeting of J&K as a Union Territory.
He was quick to add that no political efforts or promises are needed to fulfill this promise, in response to the repeated promises of the NC-led ruling coalition to restore J&K statehood.