26 top militant commanders killed this year: J&K police

With the killing of over 150 militants, including 26 top commanders this year, security forces have been able to break the backbone of the militancy in Kashmir.

Jammu and Kashmir police chief Dilbagh Singh said they have succeeded in breaking the leadership structure of militants in the Valley. “26 topmost commanders have been killed this year in various encounters across Kashmir valley,” he said while addressing a presser in north Kashmir’s Handwara district.

He was speaking to the reporters in the backdrop of the killing of two militants, including a top Lashkar-e-Toiba commander, Nasir-u-din Lone, in a gunfight in Kralgund, Handwara, on Wednesday evening.

“Nasir was involved in the killing of six CRPF personnel besides other killings, including a cop. He was likely to carry out a big strike in north Kashmir after the killing of Sajad alias Hyder,” the police chief said while terming Naseer-ud-Din a sharpshooter.

He also claimed that the infiltration of militants from across the Line of Control (LoC) has reduced to almost 50% this year because of the tight vigil and proper border management.

“The recruitment of local youth into militant ranks has also come down to a significant level. Security forces saved 16 local youth from joining militancy this year and returned them to their families,” Singh added.

Regarding the probe into the alleged fake encounter in south Kashmir’s Shopian, the police chief said that the investigation was going in the right direction and police was also carrying out a separate investigation in the matter.

The alleged fake encounter controversy erupted after family members of three labourers from Rajouri in Jammu, who went missing from Shopian district on July 17 alleged, on the basis of photographs, that the three unidentified militants the army said it killed in a gunfight there on July 18, were, in fact, their innocent relatives.