A Pakistani-origin terrorist belonging to the JeM was killed on Sunday in a brief exchange of fire with security forces in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pulwama district

Srinagar: The Indian Army is fierce when it comes to protecting their country but they are also a unit that keeps values and integrity at a high pedestal. When our armed forces, along with the Jammu and Kashmir Police, exchanged fire with two Jaish-e Mohammed (JeM) terrorists, they kept in mind a promise they had made to the mother of one of the terrorists who was a Jammu and Kashmir local youth.

“We were tracking their movement since a month and had cordoned off Bijnari area. We nabbed several Over-Ground-Workers of the Jaish-e-Mohammed and busted their racket. We located the Pakistani terrorist and Sohail Lone, a local terrorist,” Colonel Samar Raghav on firing in Khrew’s Bathien area in Awantipora in Jammu and Kashmir.

A Pakistani-origin terrorist belonging to the JeM was killed on Sunday in a brief exchange of fire with security forces in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pulwama district, police said. “On a credible input about the presence of terrorists, a search operation was launched jointly by police and security forces at the Bathien area of Khrew in Awantipora,” a police spokesman said.

The forces surrounded the area and opened fire. “The Pakistani terrorist was neutralised and we handed over Sohail to police. We recovered one AK-47 rifle, 3 magazines, 2 grenades, 1 pistol along with 2 magazines,” Col. Raghav said.

“Sohail (a local youth) had joined Jaish-e-Mohammed four months back. His mother and sisters had appealed him to come back. We promised his mother that we won’t kill him and despite him firing at us, we exercised maximum restraint and apprehended him alive,” Col. Raghav said.

The slain terrorist was identified as a Pakistani national code-named ‘Waseem’.

In another major counter-insurgency success in Jammu and Kashmir, six terrorists were killed in an encounter with security forces on Sunday in the Kapran Batagund area of Shopian district.

Of the six killed, four belonged to the Hizbul Mujahideen and two belonged to the Lashkar-e-Taiba. Both the district commanders of Hizbul and Lashkar have been killed, security forces confirmed.

Hizbul commander Umar Majeed Ganaie alias Hanzalla, whose selfie in front of Ghanta Ghar at Lal Chowk in Jammu and Kashmir’s Srinagar surfaced on Thursday last week, was among those killed.