SRINAGAR: Three Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) terrorists, including the suspected mastermind of the the February 14 terror attack on CRPF convoy that killed 49 jawans, were killed in a fierce 18-hour encounter in which an Army Major and four other security personnel, including a policeman, and a civilian lost their lives in south Kashmir’s Pulwama on Monday.
Several senior officers were also wounded in the incident.
The bloody gunfight in Pinglena area of Pulwama district on Monday led to the killing of Pakistani national Kamran, the alleged mastermind of the audacious attack on CRPF convoy and the so-called divisional commander of JeM for Pulwama, Tral and Awantipora areas of South Kashmir. He was also a trusted aide of JeM chief Moulana Masood Azhar.
The other slain militant was identified as Hilal Ahmad, a local Kashmiri recruited by the terror group, while the identity of the third militant was still being ascertained, officials said.
Some reports said the third slain militant could be Ghazi Rasheed, an Afghan national, who is known to be an IED specialist.
In photos released by security agencies, Kamran is seen as a bespectacled man with a lean built, holding an AK-47 rifle.
But the man in a ‘salwar kameez’, also referred to as Kamran Bhai, was known to be an ace terror recruiter tasked with radicalising and training terrorists in the Kashmir Valley.
After the operation, defence spokesman Colonel Rajesh Kalia confirmed the death of four Army personnel and identified them as Major Vibhuti Shankar Dhoun-diyal, Havaldar Sheo Ram, Sepoy Hari Singh and Sepoy Ajay Kumar.
