Pak-based terror group Jaish-e-Mohammed claimed responsibility for the Pulwama terror attack.
Highlights
- Anyone who has picked up a gun in Kashmir will be eliminated, says army
- Tell sons who have taken up arms to surrender, army asks Kashmir women
- Three Jaish terrorists were killed in an operation in Pulwama
A day after three Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorists were killed in an operation in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama in which four soldiers and a Kashmir police constable were also killed, a senior army officer said that the entire Jaish leadership in Kashmir Valley has been eliminated.
"We were tracking the Jaish-e-Mohammed leadership. We are happy to inform that we eliminated the Jaish leadership in the Valley, which was controlled by Pakistan," said Kanwal Jeet Singh Dhillon, Corps Commander of Chinar Corps, Indian Army, adding that the terrorists had been killed in "less than 100 hours" after the Pulwama terror attack, in which over 40 soldiers were killed by a suicide bomber.
The officer appealed: "We request all mothers, make your sons who have taken up arms surrender. Anyone who has picked up the gun in Kashmir will be eliminated, unless they surrender."
The four soldiers killed in the operation included Major Vibhuti Shankar Dhoundiyal, 34. The others were Sepoy Hari Singh, 27, Havaldar Sheo Ram, 37, and Sepoy Ajay Kumar, 27. Head Constable Abdul Rashid Kalas died of his wounds later.
"Anyone who has picked up the gun in Kashmir will be eliminated," said Kanwal Jeet Singh Dhillon, Corps Commander of Chinar Corps.
The three Jaish terrorists who were killed included Kamran, believed to be a conspirator in the February 14 Pulwama terror attack. Kamran was a Pakistani and a top commander of the Jaish and a key aide of Jaish-e-Mohammed's Pakistan-based chief Masood Azhar.
Kamran was the handler of Pulwama suicide bomber Adil Ahmad Dar and responsible for recruiting, radicalising and training terrorists in the Kashmir Valley.
The second terrorist killed was Hilal Ahmed, a local Kashmiri bomb specialist. The third terrorist, Rashid, also called Gazi and Lukaman, was also from Pakistan.
According to the police records, all three terrorists were wanted for a series of terror incidents. "The role of these terrorists in the recent Pulwama convoy attack is being probed as well," said the army.