Srinagar, Dec 01: Two militants including a Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) commander, who was also an IED expert, were killed in a pre-dawn gunfight in Qasbayar area of south Kashmir’s Pulwama district on Wednesday, officials said.
Police said that the slain have been identified as Yasir Parray and Abu Furqan alias Ali Bhai.
“While the former was an IED expert and the commander of JeM, the latter (Furqan) was a foreign (Pakistani national) terrorist,” added the police.
The police have termed the killings as a big success.
Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Kashmir, Vijay Kumar termed the killings as a “big success” and congratulated police and security forces for conducting a successful operation without any collateral damage.
“Terrorist commander of proscribed terror outfit JeM Yasir Parray, an IED Expert and foreign terrorist Furqan neutralized. Both were involved in several terror crime cases,” Kumar said in a tweet.
Giving details about the whole encounter, the Police spokesman in its statement said, “Acting on a specific input generated by Pulwama Police regarding the presence of terrorists in Qasbayar area of Pulwama, a joint cordon and search operation was launched by Police, 44RR and 183Bn CRPF in the said area.
“During the search operation, as the presence of terrorists was ascertained, they were given opportunity to surrender; however they fired indiscriminately upon the joint search party which was retaliated leading to an encounter,” he said.
“In the ensuing encounter, two terrorists of proscribed terror outfit JeM were killed and their bodies were retrieved from the encounter site. The killed terrorists have been identified as Yasir Parray resident of Qasbayar Pulwama (an IED expert) and foreign terrorist Furkan @Ali Bhai resident of Pakistan.
The statement further said, “As per police records, both the killed terrorists were part of groups involved in planning and executing terror attacks on security establishments and civilian killings.”
The police spokesperson said, “The killed terrorist Yasir Parray figured among the list of most-wanted terrorists operating in the valley as he was a highly trained IED expert. Besides being the part of other terror crimes, he was also instrumental in motivating and recruiting the youth to join terror folds and other criminal activities.
The spokesman said, “Parray was also involved in carrying out an IED attack at Arihal in which two Army Jawans of 2RR were martyred and 17 others were injured. He was also involved in an attack on Police Naka at Prichoo Pulwama in which HC Anoop Singh of IRP 10th Bn attained martyrdom and other police personnel were injured.
The slain JeM commander was also involved in barring people from participating in democratic activities, besides issuing death threats to DDCs, BDCs, Panchs, Sarpanchs, other political workers, and police personnel.
“Another terrorist Abu Furkan was active in Kashmir valley since 2018 and his name figured in list of top 60 terrorists. He used to operate in Pulwama and Pakharpora area of Budgam. He was involved in various terrorist activities, besides, recruiting the local youth into JeM terror folds, and mentoring active terrorists of JeM.”
The police spokesman said “Furkan along with terrorist Yasir Parray were the main conspirators of Avandgund Rajpora VB-IED in which 50Kg IED laden Santro Vehicle was recovered and defused by Police and security forces.”
The slain duo was also involved in the killing of a civilian Azad Ahmad Dar resident of Kangan Pulwama.
“Incriminating materials, arms, and ammunition including 02 AK-series rifles, 02 pistols were recovered from the site of the encounter. All the recovered materials have been taken into case records for further investigation. Police has registered a case under relevant sections of law and investigation has been initiated,” the police spokesman said