Srinagar: A terrorist gunned down by the Indian Army in the higher reaches of Yusmarg in central Kashmir has been identified as Yasir, a Pakistani national working for the banned Lashkar-e-Taiba, with involvement in the ambush of an IAF convoy in Poonch and an attack on army and civilian workers in 2024, officials said on Saturday.
A hunt for a second terrorist, hiding behind huge boulders and natural caves, was on at the encounter site located between 12,000 feet and 15,500 feet in the Pir Panjal range.
Although the operation is faced with difficulties because of incessant rain and visibility reducing to as low as five metres, the area is dominated by the army and its Special Forces to thwart any successful escape attempt.
Yasir was gunned down by the army on Friday.
According to the officials, Yasir’s presence was first detected in 2024. Inputs suggest his involvement in at least three major terror incidents in 2024 – an ambush of an Indian Air Force (IAF) convoy in Poonch district, an attack on construction workers near Sonamarg, and an attack on the army in Bota Pathri.
An IAF member was killed and four others injured when terrorists ambushed a convoy of the force in Jammu and Kashmir’s Poonch district. The attack took place near Shahsitar in the Surankote area around 6.15 pm on May 4, 2024, when the troops were returning to their base at Sanai Top.
Seven people, one of them a local doctor, were gunned down by a terrorist group on October 20, 2024, at Gangangir in Sonamarg.
Yasir was part of the terror group led by Junai Ahmed Bhat, a Lashkar-e-Taiba commander, who was shot dead by security forces on December 3, 2024, in Dachigam forest on the outskirts of Srinagar.
On October 24, 2024, Yasir and other terrorists ambushed an Indian Army vehicle in the Bota Pathri area near Gulmarg, Jammu and Kashmir, killing five people — three soldiers and two porters.
The officials said Yasir had crossed to the north of the Pir Panjal range to meet Junaid, and since the Boat Pathri encounter, he and Musa, another Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorist, had been hiding in the Yusmarg and Pulwama belts. They returned south of the Pir Panjal range in the Jammu region last year, only to re-enter the Valley earlier this month.
The current operation was launched after the army tracked the movement of the terror group advancing from Ashdar Gali in Poonch towards Pakherpora in Pulwama via Yusmarg. Following the input, Special forces and Indian Army units laid an ambuscade along the mountain passes at altitudes ranging between 12,000 and 15,500 feet.
A tight cordon was established in the area on September 1, and initial contact was made on September 3 at Ashdar Gali, a remote alpine ridge.
According to the officials, the encounter site is nearly five hours from the Doodhpathri area of Budgam and is extremely isolated.
“Based on specific intelligence input, a joint search operation was launched by the Indian Army, J&K Police and CRPF in Budgam. Vigilant troops observed suspicious activity, and upon being challenged, terrorists opened fire, prompting a fierce exchange of gunfire during which one terrorist was neutralised and one AK rifle was recovered,” the Srinagar-based Chinar Corps said on X on Friday.
Reinforcements have been deployed across the higher reaches as combing operations continue to track down Musa. More troops have been ranged along the Jammu side of the Pir Panjal to block all possible escape routes.
