Jammu: In a major development, the Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) Police declared South Kashmir's terrorism hit Tral area free of any Hizbul Mujahideen terrorist, which marks a first such instance in over three decades since 1989.

“After today’s successful ops, no presence of HM terrorist in Tral area. It has happened for first time since 1989,” India Today quoted IGP J&K Police Vijay Kumar.

It should be remembered that South Kashmir's Tral is the hometown of Hizbul Mujahideen's poster boy and slain commander Burhan Wani whose elimination by security forces in an encounter had sparked much tension and unrest on the ground.  

The J&K Police has increased the intensity of encounters against militant groups in the valley over the past months. More than 35 militants have been killed in Kashmir in the month of June so far in around a dozen encounters. The security forces seem to be upping the ante against militant groups in the Kashmir valley. There is an encounter almost every day in the valley.

According to reports, on Tuesday morning, two militants were killed and one CRPF jawan also lost his life in a gunfight in Pulwama. On Sunday, three young boys who had picked up arms were killed in Srinagar. So far more than 100 militants have been killed in various encounters this year.

“Very successful operations have been carried out. Most of these operations are clean. Neutralising a terrorist doesn’t give any happiness to us, but the fact is that any person with a gun is a threat to people. We can’t ignore this threat. I am, however, happy to say that new recruitment in militancy has come down drastically,” said Dilbagh Singh, DG J&K Police in a recent press conference.