- 3 Soldiers also injured
- 4000 soldiers carry out daylong anti-militancy operation
- Locals accuse forces of damaging properties
- Drones, choppers assist forces on ground during 8-hr operation
- Several youth injured in clashes
A civilian Sumo driver ferrying soldiers returning from a daylong anti-militancy operation in Shopian was killed when militants ambushed the vehicle on Thursday. Three soldiers were also injured in the attack.
Soldiers from army’s 62 Rashtriya Rifles battalion were returning in a private Tata Sumo vehicle to their Imam Sahib camp after carrying out searches in the area.
The driver, Nazir Sheikh son of Ahad Sheikh of Kachdoora, Shopian, died when the vehicle came under militants’ fire at Baskuchan Imam Sahib at about 6pm. Three soldiers were also Injured in the attack, an army official said.
The PTI reported that militants struck when army troops were carrying out a “reverse sweep” in the area.
“Reverse sweep is a term used by army in which they carry out a surprise check of a location after having combed it earlier in the day,” the PTI said.
Search Operation
Tens of hundreds of soldiers, paramilitary and policemen—about 30,000 men according to IANS—launched a major search operation in about two dozen villages in Shopian district, including Zainapora, Darazpora, Turkiwungam, Sugan, Kashoo, Maldera, Urpora, Aripora, Ladi , Nagbal, Molu Chitragam, Kungnoo. Heff kuri, Warpora, Kenigom, Human, Chillipora and Dragad.
The forces also conducted house to house searches, locals said.
“The concentration of forces was so huge that it looked like a war zone reminiscent of the nineties,” said Abdul Samad, a resident of Zainpora
Army chief General Bipin Rawat, however, said it was a “regular operation” conducted to “make sure that the situation is brought under control” in the Kashmir. “Every day we do it. There is nothing new. Today’s operation is happening because banks have been looted and police personnel have been killed,” Gen Rawat said in New Delhi.
The IANS reported that operation involved some 30,000 army men, paramilitary and police personnel. Drones and helicopters hovered above the sparsely populated villages spread between sprawling orchards of apples in Shopian. Force personnel stood guard on roads and entry points, preventing people from coming or going out of their areas.
Amid, tight security, witnesses said, people, including women came out and tried to disrupt the operation by pelting stones and hurling bricks.
“The government forces retaliated by lobbing teargas shells and firing pellets resulting into injuries to at least dozen people,” witnesses said.
They said most of the injured were treated locally. “Two of the injured were hospitalized,” they added.
Later, additional forces were rushed to the villages to chase away the stone-pelting civilians. “People had put logs of woods, boulders and rocks on the roads to prevent government forces from proceeding towards the villages,” witnesses added.
Helicopters were also seen hovering in the sky during the search operation, which was finally called off at around 3:00 Pm after no militant was spotted in the area. Locals said the forces retracted after they failed to trace the militants, however, police maintained that the operation was still on.
“The operation is still on and there has been no de-induction so far,” Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of Police- South Kashmir range- SP Pani told Kashmir Post. The DIG said that clashes were reported at few places but were controlled by security forces.
Forces Damage Property
Meanwhile, locals in Turkiwangam, Mandera , Urpora and Sugan villages alleged that forces went berserk by barging into the houses and damaging the property.
“The forces without any provocation smashed the window panes of houses, ransacked goods and also damaged vehicles parked nearby,” said locals.
One of the inhabitants of Turka wangam- Abdul Rashid Lone, whose daughter is supposed to get married on May, 8 alleged that his house was damaged by the force personnel. “The forces barged into the kitchen of my house, smashed window panes and broke almirahs and destroyed kitchen accessories,” he alleged.
The women folk in the village were seen weeping at the loss of their hard earned property.- Gulzar Ahmad – who sells disposable items alleged that the force personnel ran away with the items. “At least sumo vehicles parked near PHC- Turka wangam were damaged by the forces and they also took away its music system,” alleged a driver Muhammad Younus . “They even took away the documents of the vehicle,” Younus added.
The search operation followed the recent spurt in militant activities in South Kashmir districts of Pulwama, Shopian and Kulgam. On Tuesday night, gunmen decamped with five rifles from police guards posted at the Shopian district court complex. The incident took place only a day after militants attacked a cash van in Kulgam district killing five policemen besides taking away their weapons, two bank guards were also killed in the shoot- out.
Further, the bank robbery incidents by armed men have also been on rise in south Kashmir. On Wednesday gunmen stormed the Ellaquai Dehati Bank and JK Bank in Pulwama district and looted cash.
Prior to that there have been many militant attacks on mainstream political workers in south Kashmir resulting into killings and injuries to a few. The militants had also barged into houses of political workers and asked them to dissociate from political activities. The militants had also been barging into houses of policemen in South Kashmir warning them against getting involved in anti-militancy operations and at times asking them to quit.
The Election Commission of India deferred the Parliament by-election scheduled on April 12 to May 25 but deferred it indefinitely on Monday. Around thirty militants were seen together in the video that went viral on social networking sites and was believed to have been filmed in Shopian area. In another video one of the militants was seen providing training to his associates reportedly somewhere in south Kashmir.
HIZB Claims Responsibility
Hizb-ul-Mujahideen Thursday claimed the responsibility of the attack on army in South Kashmir’s Shopian district. In a tele-statement to KNS, the Hizb spokesman Burhan-u-din said following the crackdown in Shopian by Army, “our militants attacked them in which they suffered damage”.
